Insights to Impact: A weekly briefing on creating sustainable and inclusive growth

| Executive Briefing
McKinsey’s 2024 insights on sustainable, inclusive growth are collected in this archive of weekly digests.

McKinsey’s past insights on opportunities for innovation, growth, and impact are collected in this archive of weekly digests. Please see our featured insights page for our latest thinking on the issues that matter most in business and management. If weekly digests are what you’re after, you can subscribe to our email newsletter, The Weekend Read, here.

August 22, 2024

How do companies avoid the risks and reap the rewards of pursuing breakout innovations? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Companies in high-growth industries such as biotechnology and software thrive on innovation momentum—a rising tide that lifts all boats. However, even in these booming sectors, winners emerge as markets mature and macroeconomic challenges arise. The winners tend to be companies that make the boldest bets and develop breakout innovations—new categories of products, services, or business models—and spawn entirely new markets, say partners Matt Banholzer and Tim Koller and their coauthor. They note that 14 of the 20 most profitable companies between 2018 and 2022 created new markets, and some even created new subindustries. Acknowledging that big bets are inherently risky, the authors propose four strategies to mitigate the risks when pursuing breakout innovations, including finding multipurpose innovations (Ozempic, for example) and making and selling “picks and shovels” for other companies.

Despite the significant value at stake from gen AI, McKinsey research shows that only 11 percent of global companies have successfully scaled this promising technology. Among operations functions, only 3 percent have achieved scale. Senior partner Jorge Amar and his coauthors, who surveyed more than 250 corporate-function executives, report that leaders cite unclear road maps, talent shortages, and immature governance as key impediments. Based on their analysis of the few successes, the authors highlight three critical tasks for effectively scaling gen AI in operations: designing a cohesive and disciplined operational strategy, establishing the systems to support the humans who make gen AI work, and merging operational strategy with human capabilities to create advanced solutions, such as autonomous AI agents and copilots. For instance, at one bank, a gen AI agent drafts credit risk memos, increasing revenue per relationship manager by 20 percent. Given gen AI’s rapid evolution, the authors also suggest that companies regularly reassess their gen AI focus and look for newly emerged opportunities.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, currently exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features David Novak, former CEO of Yum! Brands, discussing his new book, How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World’s Most Successful People (Harvard Business Review Press, June 2024). Drawing from podcast interviews with leaders including Jamie Dimon, Indra Nooyi, and Tom Brady, Novak argues that active learning is crucial in leadership, highlighting traits like embracing failure and balancing confidence with humility, and offering strategies for leaders to improve their learning, such as surrounding themselves with truth-tellers.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




August 8, 2024

How can biopharma companies boost R&D productivity and deliver sustainable value to their stakeholders? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

The rapid development pace of COVID-19 vaccines and therapies—achieving in one year what usually takes ten—was a showcase of biopharma R&D at its best. Apart from COVID-19 therapies, however, the sector’s R&D productivity has seen only modest gains over the past decade, barely recouping the full value of capital invested, say senior partner Brandon Parry and his coauthors. Their analysis indicates that from 2019 to 2023, a 10 percent improvement in clinical-development speed and a 60 percent growth in the volume of Phase I candidates gave a boost to industry-wide R&D productivity, but those gains were offset by a 20 percent drop in clinical-trial success rates and a 40 percent rise in R&D costs. Drawing on their research of the top-performing R&D functions and from their discussions with industry leaders, the authors propose an eight-ingredient recipe for R&D transformation. Key elements include picking winning medicines (making investor-like trade-offs in the drug candidate portfolio), bringing the future forward (integrating next-generation data, analytics, and technology), and partnering for joint success (reassessing and streamlining vendor relationships). The authors note that improved R&D performance will lead to biopharma companies delivering more lifesaving therapies across a wider range of diseases.

Retailers were among the first to experiment with gen AI when the technology burst onto the scene in 2022. But some have found it difficult to transition from proofs of concept to at-scale deployment, since that would require an extensive revamping of their technical capabilities and talent base, say senior partners Alexander Sukharevsky and Emily Reasor and their coauthors. Based on their survey of 52 global Fortune 500 retail executives, the authors found that successful retailers not only navigate the organizational rewiring challenge but also focus on use cases that can transform specific domains, rather than spreading resources thinly across numerous experiments. Gen AI can help streamline internal operations, such as by drafting or summarizing procurement deal terms and extracting marketing insights. The technology can also be used to enhance the customer experience, including by generating personalized shopping lists and recommending products based on purchase history and preferences. To maximize their capture of up to $390 billion in economic value at stake, retailers must also ensure data quality and establish strong risk guidelines to minimize customer-facing errors.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, currently exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Cass Sunstein, director of the behavioral economics and public policy program at Harvard Law School, discussing his new book, How to Become Famous: Lost Einsteins, Forgotten Superstars, and How the Beatles Came to Be (Harvard Business Review Press, May 2024). Sunstein argues that factors besides talent, such as being in the right place at the right time or having a network of promoters or enthusiasts, contribute to fame and success, citing his own fortunate path to clerking for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




August 1, 2024

What are the benefits and limitations of generative AI agents? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

More than 72 percent of companies surveyed in the most recent McKinsey Global Survey on AI are deploying AI solutions, with many shifting to generative AI (gen AI). While much of the focus has been on gen AI’s ability to produce original content and insights, a new shift is emerging toward AI agents capable of executing complex, multistep workflows like planning travel itineraries, loan underwriting, and code documentation, say senior partner Lareina Yee and her coauthors. The technology is still nascent, and integrating AI agents will require robust data management, IT infrastructure, and human oversight to ensure accuracy and alignment with company values. Still, the authors argue that business leaders could start exploring how AI agents can accelerate their core processes, which could inform their innovation readiness and planning.

Building a new business from scratch or scaling one up requires precise coordination and advanced capabilities. Much of this work happens in what partners Claudy Jules and Shahar Markovitch and their coauthor describe as the “engine room”—the team, tools, and systems that promote product development and business growth. Their research identifies five core components of an effective engine room, including overinvesting in talent attraction and development, optimizing for product–market fit, and organizing for scale. In their latest analysis, they elaborate on these components and debunk five myths about building and scaling businesses. One myth is that start-ups only pivot when necessary; in fact, successful start-ups pursue new opportunities even when things are going well. Another myth is that new businesses should focus on only one product or growth engine at a time; in reality, successful scaling requires tapping into multiple growth drivers, including geographic expansion, partnerships, and M&A activities.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, currently exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Claudio Feser, a senior partner emeritus at McKinsey, chair of technology and innovation management at ETH Zurich, and coauthor of Super Deciders: The Science and Practice of Making Decisions in Dynamic and Uncertain Times (Wiley, March 2024). In a discussion with McKinsey Global Publishing’s Raju Narisetti, Feser describes the neuroscientific foundations of the book’s three-step decision-making framework and its six-step process for making conscious, better, and more transparent decisions. He also shares his views on AI and why he believes it won’t replace human decision making.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




July 25, 2024

How can companies turn their raw data into profitable businesses? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Since the turn of the century, economists have crowned data as the new oil and the new gold. As business leaders rush to capture some of the roughly $22 trillion in value estimated to come from analytics, generative AI (gen AI), and other data-related technological advances, some are also exploring the potential profits that could be squeezed from their own raw data. A recent McKinsey survey of business leaders reveals that about 40 percent of them expect to create new businesses based on data, analytics, and AI within the next five years. McKinsey’s Ari Libarikian, Kayvaun Rowshankish, Markus Berger-de León, and Vishnu Kamalnath propose four critical actions for leaders looking to create data products and businesses: define a strong customer value proposition, modernize data technologies, ensure data privacy and security, and adapt operating models to support delivery of data products. Examples of successful businesses that were spun out from company data include Walmart Data Ventures, which achieved 80 percent quarter-over-quarter growth in its first year by helping suppliers understand customer behavior, and a telecom company’s digital lending business, which is on track to generate $200 million in less than five years.

Business leaders rely on financial models to set goals, identify potential risks, and explore growth opportunities. Senior partner John Kelleher and his coauthors argue that effective forecasting models should provide actionable insights through transparency, consistency, and continuous improvement, all while remaining flexible and adaptable. To achieve these aims, they propose six practical steps that financial planning and analysis teams can take to improve forecasting accuracy, including using clear probability values for assumptions, detailing worst-case scenarios, disaggregating inflation rates from the models, and frequently back testing the models to identify patterns—the latter can be automated and executed more efficiently with AI. A consumer-packaged-goods company discovered through back testing that its monthly sales forecasts consistently were overestimated by about five percentage points month after month—an issue it could have addressed earlier with weekly back testing.

The aerospace and defense (A&D) industry faces a growing talent gap because of increasing demand and labor shortfalls. Recent analysis by senior partners Brooke Weddle and Hugues Lavandier and their coauthors estimate that the gap could cost a median-size A&D company $300 million to $330 million annually in lost productivity. The authors propose five actions to close the talent gap, including streamlining the hiring process, reskilling existing talent, and improving company culture and perceptions of performance management. The latter action is particularly relevant given that a 2024 McKinsey Performance Management Survey revealed that one in five A&D employees feel unmotivated by their employer’s approach to performance management.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, currently exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features journalist Lawrence Ingrassia discussing his book, A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery (Henry Holt/Macmillan Publishers, May 2024). Ingrassia details his family's battles with numerous cancers and his quest to understand the genetic mutation responsible. He credits scientific discoveries and drug therapies with improving cancer survival rates and stresses the importance of testing and early detection.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI. 

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




July 18, 2024

What do mature procurement teams do to boost their companies’ profit margins? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Procurement functions play a crucial role in bolstering a company’s bottom line, especially during turbulent times. Miscalculations can be costly, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic’s automotive-chip shortage, which caused a global production shortfall of an estimated 13 million vehicles. Procurement organizations that get it right more often than not—the ones that outperform—tend to have the most mature teams, note partners Riccardo Drentin and Samir Khushalani and their coauthors. According to their latest analysis, these teams achieve EBITDA margins that are five percentage points (or more) higher than those of their less mature peers. Top performers also achieve twice the maturity of laggards across six broad dimensions and invest heavily in three of them: strategy, digital, and data and analytics. A global retail chain, for example, applied a suite of digital and analytics tools, including AI-assisted category analysis and geospatial analysis, to reduce indirect spending by 11 percent and save the company over $500 million.

Companies across various sectors, including food, manufacturing, and chemicals, depend on industrial heat production, which accounts for about 19 percent of fuel consumption and 13 percent of energy-related carbon emissions. Replacing fuel with electricity offers significant sustainability and long-term cost savings benefits for industrial heating; however, without strong operational incentives, companies and their engineers are reluctant to abandon proven processes or retrofit established systems, say partners Joris van Niel and Ken Somers and their coauthors. Based on their analysis of 60 industrial processes across eight sectors and 13 types of industrial equipment, the authors claim that electrification is now possible for most low- and medium-temperature heat needs, even with existing equipment. They also note that electrification has become more economically feasible because of decreasing costs for renewable energy and rising CO2 prices, which effectively make fossil fuels more expensive. To seize the electrification opportunity, the authors recommend that companies develop a clear vision for their energy transition, continually update their technology and operational capabilities, and boldly use existing funds intended for technology development and decarbonization.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, currently exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Olympic gold medalist and entrepreneur Mark Tuitert discussing his book, The Stoic Mindset: Living the Ten Principles of Stoicism (St. Martin’s Essentials/Macmillan Publishers, April 2024). Tuitert shares how applying Stoic principles can help build resilience, inspire purpose, strengthen character, and create more meaningful connections. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on processes rather than outcomes and explains how Stoicism can help individuals navigate life’s challenges.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




July 11, 2024

How do we make sense of all the data around us? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Poor-quality data can lead to inaccurate outputs, costly fixes, and a loss of user trust. Organizations struggle to process unstructured data sets, and that increases the chance of errors. In a recent McKinsey survey, 70 percent of top performers said they had difficulties integrating data into AI models. Senior partner Kayvaun Rowshankish and coauthors say moves that can help organizations remedy these problems, and scale generative AI (gen AI), include improving the quality and readiness of data for gen AI use cases; utilizing gen AI to build better data products, such as a 360-degree view of a customer; and safeguarding data at every step to mitigate risk and maintain high standards.

Productivity has slowed over the past decade or so, but AI could be a game changer in reviving it, Chad Syverson, an economist at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, explains in an episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast. Why does the slowdown matter? Because if productivity growth had remained high, US GDP would be up roughly 35 percent from current levels, Syverson says. But there are glimmers of a potential turnaround: since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, labor market dynamism and business formation have picked up, and Syverson says optimism about new technologies such as AI and biotech could be part of the reason.

The world needs to shift its thinking on populations getting older, moving from the idea of an aging society to that of a longevity society, economist, author, and longevity expert Andrew J. Scott tells Ellen Feehan, a McKinsey partner and coleader of the McKinsey Health Institute’s healthy longevity team. Remarkably, in high-income countries, half of all children are likely to live into their late 80s or early 90s—but it’s important to make sure people remain productive and engaged as they age, Scott says. Businesses should recognize older workers as important contributors and find ways to retain them, a strategy that will yield benefits for the whole company, he explains. People also should strive to keep their biological age as low as possible by living a full, healthy life, no matter their chronological age.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, currently exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Aram Sinnreich discussing the new book he cowrote with Jesse Gilbert, The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance (MIT Press, April 2024). Sinnreich, a professor at American University, explains one of the book’s central tenets: data is not inherently neutral or objective, as all data systems contain flaws or biases. Data surveillance, AI, and algorithms are taking on ever more importance, with potentially ominous implications. The interviews and research got so heavy that he and his coauthor “experienced depression and paranoia,” Sinnreich says—but they came out of the process optimistic about humanity’s resilience in a data-obsessed world.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jana Zabkova, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




June 27, 2024

What institutional capabilities give global stock market favorites their superpowers? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

What is the secret sauce that makes some companies so successful that they earn icon status in the public markets? Investors trust members of the US-based Magnificent Seven (among them, Apple and Nvidia) or of Europe’s Granolas (among them, Nestlé and Novartis). Why? Those companies possess at least one distinguishing institutional capability—a superpower—derived from a winning combination of people, processes, and technology, write senior partners Brad Mendelson, Harald Fanderl, Homayoun Hatami, and Liz Hilton Segel. Expanding on that concept, the authors have developed the VECTOR framework: vision, employees, culture, technology, organizational structure, and routines. A recent McKinsey survey found that companies incorporating one or more VECTOR elements in their transformation efforts are more likely than others to report outperforming their peers. Companies seeking similar results, the authors note, can draw lessons from stock market darlings such as LVMH, which bakes quality into the long-term visions of its 75 brands; Nestlé, which encourages an entrepreneurial culture that has produced consumer hits (such as Nespresso and Nesquik); and Amazon, whose organizational model of the “single-threaded leader” (a manager focused on a single initiative) is credited for the development of the Kindle e-reader.

Women constitute half of the population and the workforce and often manage their families’ medical care. Yet society has failed to prioritize theirs, which has led to a persistent gender health gap. In the United States, that disparity is largely driven by disproportionate outcomes in cardiovascular disease (CVD), which affects more than 60 million women and claims more of their lives than any other factor does. Cardiovascular disease presents in women differently from in men, yet sex- and gender-appropriate cardiac care and research remain insufficient. For example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that over half of pregnancy-related deaths occur in the year after childbirth, yet up to 40 percent of women don’t access postpartum care. Closing the CVD gender gap could recover 1.6 million years of life lost to early deaths and add $28 billion to the US economy by 2040, say senior partner Lucy Pérez, partner Megan Greenfield, and leaders of the American Heart Association. To achieve that goal, the authors recommend a series of actions, including increasing sex-specific clinical research, raising public awareness, tailoring prevention strategies across women's lifespans, and improving the collection methods of women-specific data, such as menstrual cycle information, which the US National Institutes of Health calls the “fifth vital sign.” Such data are critical to developing more accurate diagnostics and treatment algorithms for women.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks currently exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Ruchir Sharma, chairman of Rockefeller International, founder and chief investment officer of Breakout Capital, and Financial Times contributing editor, discussing his new book, What Went Wrong with Capitalism (Simon & Schuster, June 2024). Sharma argues that government interventions in the marketplace counteract AI-driven productivity gains and undermine economic growth and that government leaders won’t cut spending unless a crisis forces them to do so.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




June 20, 2024

What can climate tech companies do to achieve cost parity with climate-intensive alternatives? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Despite the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions and prevent a climate crisis, widespread adoption of climate tech has been hindered by an inability to achieve cost parity with traditional carbon-intensive alternatives. Controlling costs is a challenge for green businesses because of the lack of standardized components, volatile material and power costs, capital expenditure overruns, and production delays. Additionally, most climate tech companies don’t prioritize cost mitigation, relying instead on subsidies, green premiums, and the actions of other stakeholders in the value chain to lower product pricing, say senior partners Harry Bowcott, Rajat Gupta, and Tomas Nauclér and their coauthors. The authors propose a five-part strategy for companies seeking to drive down their production costs, including setting ambitious targets that spur innovation, deploying AI to accelerate innovation, and applying design-to-value (DTV) principles to reduce material and component costs and optimize product performance. For instance, an electrolyzer manufacturer successfully used DTV to identify up to 50 percent in cost savings for essential components. The authors note that companies with a clear cost reduction plan are more attractive than others to climate tech investors.

Analytics and AI have the potential to transform procurement functions by improving sourcing decisions, particularly in an environment of price volatility, geopolitical tensions, and sustainability imperatives. However, according to senior partner Mauro Erriquez and his coauthors, most chief procurement officers feel unprepared for this change, citing concerns about data quality and access, making the business case for new tools, and implementing them at scale. The authors contend that companies can join the data-driven procurement revolution by focusing on five or six high-value use cases that can deliver 60 to 80 percent of the value at stake, partnering with internal and external stakeholders from the outset, making new data solutions more user friendly, and investing in data and analytics talent. Notably, best-in-class companies allocate 22 percent of procurement staff to analytics teams, far higher than the typical share at other organizations.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Elspeth Kirkman, chief program officer at innovation agency Nesta, discussing her new book, Decisionscape: How Thinking like an Artist Can Improve Our Decision Making (MIT Press, March 2024). Kirkman draws parallels between artistic techniques—like distance (and diminution), viewpoint, composition, and frame—and decision making and suggests ways that leaders can improve decision making, such as focusing on rewiring processes rather than people and encouraging the use of expressive writing to process thoughts and feelings.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




June 13, 2024

How can gen AI help farmers feed the world? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Generative AI (gen AI) is poised to revolutionize agriculture, a welcome development as global demand for nutritious food continues to increase. The nascent technology can help agricultural businesses strike a balance between sustainability and economic pressures, say senior partners David Fiocco and Yashaswi Gautam and their coauthors. For farmers, gen AI can optimize the usage of inputs, such as water and fertilizers, and manage labor more efficiently, creating $100 billion in value, the authors estimate. On an enterprise level, gen AI has the power to enhance the research and development process, for example, by creating crops that can better withstand pests or drought. The authors estimate gen AI can create an additional $150 billion in value at the enterprise level. To capture the full potential of gen AI, agricultural businesses must revamp their approach to digital efforts by building a robust data foundation, fostering a culture of experimentation and learning, and developing talent with the skills needed to make good use of the technology.

Effective communications can help businesses improve employee engagement, motivating team members and helping them do their best work, senior partner Dana Maor and coauthors say. In a follow-up article to McKinsey’s The State of Organizations 2023 report, which found that only a quarter of respondents think their organizations’ leaders are truly inspiring, the authors lay out five key practices for executives: embedding communications at the core of your role and choosing key messages wisely; using shared metaphors and myths to click with people; talking with, not at, your audience; making technology your assistant, not your boss; and imbuing communications with a sense of purpose.

Consumers continue to buck expectations, making it harder for companies to know how to keep them happy. To assess the state of the consumer in 2024, McKinsey surveyed more than 15,000 people in 18 markets that collectively account for 90 percent of global GDP. Senior partner Sajal Kohli and coauthors point to three particularly influential consumer groups of the future: young people in emerging markets, who tend to be optimistic and willing to trade up to premium products; wealthy older people, eager to spend on experiences such as travel; and the squeezed middle classes in Europe and the United States, who still plan to splurge on discretionary items despite cost-of-living increases. Other key insights: brand loyalty is largely a thing of the past, benefiting private labels. Fewer young people say sustainability is an important factor in their purchasing decisions. And spending on health and wellness is expected to surge, particularly in emerging markets.

A mother is putting away groceries in the kitchen while her four children observe with curiosity. She has a relaxed expression as she inspects a box of crackers.

Join McKinsey senior partners Jessica Moulton, Pavlos Exarchos, and Warren Teichner as they discuss how to rekindle growth in the consumer goods industry on June 26 at 10 a.m. ET/4 p.m. CET.

Register now

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features 16-year-old entrepreneurs Jason Liaw and Fenley Scurlock, who share insights from their new book, Down to Business: 51 Industry Leaders Share Practical Advice on How to Become a Young Entrepreneur (Penguin Random House, March 2024). The two teens—in addition to being high school students, Liaw was a website developer for local businesses and organizations, and Scurlock sells artisanal soaps—say the entrepreneurs they approached were eager to talk about their journeys to success, and the interviewees featured include other teens and younger children who founded thriving businesses. The target audience is school age, the authors say, though they hope even adults can find nuggets of wisdom in the book.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jana Zabkova, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




June 6, 2024

What features define companies that are generating value from their use of AI? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

More companies are deploying AI and seeing its benefits to their bottom line, according to results from the 2024 McKinsey Global Survey on AI, led by senior partners Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky, and Lareina Yee. AI adoption has risen from 50 percent in 2022, before generative AI (gen AI) became mainstream, to 72 percent in 2024. Gen AI use has surged from 33 percent in 2023 to 65 percent this year. Beyond implementation, AI solutions are beginning to generate value for organizations, driving cost savings in HR and boosting revenue in supply chain and commercial activities. The survey revealed key distinctions between a small group of high performers—which attribute more than 10 percent of their EBIT to their use of gen AI—and the rest. Relative to other organizations, high performers deploy the technology across more business functions (average of three versus average of two), are more likely to use customized or proprietary AI models, and are more proactive about mitigating gen AI’s risks, such as inaccuracies and cybersecurity issues.

Many countries and businesses rely on tourism and leisure travel, which plummeted by 75 percent in 2020 during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The industry is poised for a full recovery by the end of 2024, with projected travel spending reaching $8.6 trillion, approximately 9 percent of this year’s projected global GDP, say the authors of McKinsey’s new five-part report, The state of tourism and hospitality 2024, led by senior partners Caroline Tufft and Matteo Pacca. Domestic travel is expected to remain the predominant source of tourism revenue, accounting for around 75 percent of total global travel spending in 2023 and projected to be around 70 percent of it by 2030. However, new trends in international travel are emerging: Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia are fast-growing sources of outbound tourists, and destinations like Peru, Rwanda, and Vietnam are attracting more visitors than ever before. The report also identifies seven traveler archetypes—from culture and authenticity seekers to strategic spenders—and provides insights for tourism industry players to customize and personalize their offerings accordingly.

Faces, places, and trends: The state of tourism & hospitality

Join McKinsey partner Margaux Constantin and senior partner Matteo Pacca as they discuss the state of tourism and hospitality on June 13 at 10:30 a.m. EDT/4:30 p.m. CET.

Register here

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent Author Talks edition, exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app until June 12, features social psychologist Robert MacCoun and Nobel laureate and astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter talking about their new book (cowritten with philosopher John Campbell), Third Millennium Thinking: Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense (Little, Brown Spark/Hachette Book, March 2024). MacCoun and Perlmutter discuss how disagreement in the scientific culture is a prerequisite to good thinking and why skeptical optimism is a better approach to decision making than gullibility and pessimism are.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




May 30, 2024

What can businesses do to improve the living standards of millions of people? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Many people in lower- and middle-income countries have built better lives thanks to economic growth, but in wealthier countries—the McKinsey Global Institute estimates—about 20 percent of the population consistently falls below the “empowerment line,” a threshold at which people can afford necessities and start saving. That’s because essentials get more expensive as countries grow wealthier. But if all countries with pricier goods and services could cut those costs to match nations with similar income levels but cheaper necessities, about 230 million additional people could rise above the empowerment line, say senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud and Marco Piccitto and coauthors. Although the public sector would need to play its part in making this happen, the private sector can help by striving to offer affordable goods and services in housing, energy, food, healthcare, and communication.

Underdeveloped leadership is a key reason for the 80 percent failure rate of start-ups, making intentional investment in leadership development crucial. When founders delegate effectively, they not only free up their own time and energy but also empower their employees to take on more responsibility and make decisions on their own. This fosters a sense of trust and autonomy and also allows for growth and innovation within the company, say senior partners Alok Kshirsagar and Arne Gast and coauthors. Well-developed leadership has a profound impact. McKinsey research shows that organizations performing in the top quartile of leadership have almost double the EBITDA of others. But it’s a tricky balance to strike because effective leadership at a start-up needs to allow for rapid transformation while also respecting the entrepreneurial spirit that led to the start-up’s creation.

The apparel industry faces challenges due to supply chain disruptions. To thrive, brands must rethink sourcing strategies, become more efficient, collaborate with suppliers, and embrace digital solutions, say senior partners Karl-Hendrik Magnus and Patricio Ibáñez and coauthors. Apparel businesses understand the urgency and are focusing on efficiency, supply chain resilience, and sustainability, according to McKinsey’s latest global survey of apparel chief procurement officers and its annual apparel sourcing roundtable. AI can help companies analyze consumer data and market trends, allowing designers to create products that are innovative and in demand. By streamlining the design process, technology enables businesses to quickly adapt to changing consumer preferences and market conditions. Embracing digital solutions helps reduce costs and increase efficiency in supply chains. In the near term, brands should set data-driven sustainability goals, use digital tools for sourcing, and establish strong supplier relationships—practices that can help brands reinvent their supply chains and emerge stronger from current challenges.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features Marine Corps veteran and Microsoft executive Nate Boaz, sharing life lessons from his new book, Running Toward Fire: Following the Warrior Path (Barbary Tavern Publishing, May 2024). Speaking with McKinsey senior partner Scott Blackburn, Boaz explains that his book is more than just a military memoir—it’s about the idea that when people serve a purpose that transcends the individual, they can achieve amazing things. Boaz explores how his two grandfathers, both World War II veterans, encouraged him to serve something bigger than himself and taught him that great leaders need to balance humility with courage—you can’t have one without the other.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jana Zabkova, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




May 23, 2024

How can companies maintain global growth amid rising geopolitical tensions? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Escalating geopolitical conflicts and competition are causing multinational companies to reevaluate their global presence, with between 60 and 70 percent of business leaders citing geopolitics as the top risk to global growth. To build resilience under these circumstances, some organizations are opting to localize business operations to minimize geopolitical risks and enable locally informed decision making, say senior partners Andrew Grant, Michael Birshan, Olivia White, and partner Ziad Haider. That strategy, called structural segmentation, helps stabilize growth by allowing companies to adapt to legal, regulatory, and economic shifts while maintaining a global footprint. However, structural segmentation may also require companies to navigate such challenges as replicating supplier networks in new markets and maintaining a unified corporate culture across the various segments.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented level of collaboration and cooperation between manufacturers, research centers, academia, and government regulators across the globe led to the compression of the vaccine development timeline from an average of ten years to just 12 months. Four years later, vaccine innovation remains strong, with some respiratory-disease vaccines now being developed in three to five years and a surge in late-stage candidates in the clinical pipeline, say senior partners Adam Sabow and Michael Conway and their coauthors. The authors note, however, that innovation has been uneven across vaccine archetypes, with few vaccine candidates progressing to late-stage development for “neglected diseases” such as Lassa fever or for “persistent global threats” such as HIV and hepatitis C. To accelerate innovation across all vaccine archetypes, the authors recommend five actions, including expanding R&D and manufacturing partnerships and establishing commercial demand through international funding mechanisms.

Accurate and accessible master data—core information about customers, suppliers, products, and employees—is essential for personnel across an organization’s business functions. Master data management (MDM) organizes and standardizes this data, propelling operational efficiency and decision making. However, senior partners Kayvaun Rowshankish and Holger Harreis and their coauthors note that many organizations struggle to implement MDM because of challenges with overcoming data silos and justifying the cost of MDM implementation. For organizations that see its value, for example, in enhancing customer experience, one critical step is to create an MDM “golden record” that consolidates the most up-to-date information from every business unit. AI can be instrumental in integrating this data. Yet a 2023 McKinsey survey reveals that 69 percent of organizations are not yet using advanced AI techniques for that purpose.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times journalist Nicholas D. Kristof, discussing his new book (and first autobiographical work), Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life (Knopf, May 2024). In his conversation with McKinsey Global Publishing leader Raju Narisetti, Kristof recounts his journey from growing up on a small-town farm to reporting on global crises, notes that digital metrics have caused the news media to favor “brownie” stories over “spinach” stories, and argues that journalists should favor truth over simply quoting both sides dispassionately.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




May 16, 2024

What actions can private asset managers take to outperform over the next decade? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, private market assets under management could triple to more than $30 trillion by 2034, driven by new investment needs and the governance advantage of private capital. However, they face near-term fundraising challenges due to high interest rates, a reengineering of supply chains, and a shift to a lower-carbon economy. Outperforming in this climate, and over the next decade, will require private capital firms to excel in at least two of five “alphas,” say senior partners Aly Jeddy, John Kelleher, and Ju-Hon Kwek and their coauthor. These include the sales alpha (raising capital effectively), the sourcing alpha (creating bespoke investment opportunities), the operational alpha (postacquisition value creation), the exit alpha (successful asset monetization), and the organizational alpha (client-centric, repeatable, and scalable operations). Success in these areas will help firms capture strong returns, growth, and profitability in the evolving private capital landscape.

Many people, particularly Gen Zers, struggle to find meaning and purpose in their lives, which affects their work and overall well-being. Developed by partners Erica Coe and Kana Enomoto and their coauthors, the McKinsey Health Institute’s Global Gen Z Survey of 41,000 people across 26 countries reveals that, despite generational and regional differences, most respondents value spiritual health. Notably, more than 80 percent in Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Vietnam consider it very important, compared with less than 45 percent in Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Poor spiritual health, particularly among Gen Z respondents, correlates with lower mental, social, and physical health. Employers and stakeholders can support spiritual well-being by helping individuals find purpose in their work and lives, highlighting the interconnectedness of the various dimensions of health.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Alison Taylor, executive director of Ethical Systems at New York University’s Stern School of Business, discussing her new book, Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World (Harvard Business Review Press, February 2024). Taylor highlights the shift from viewing ethics as a defense mechanism to a core corporate responsibility, offering leaders strategies to navigate social and political issues, set environmental and social priorities, and foster a healthy organizational culture.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




May 9, 2024

What steps can micro-, small, and medium-size enterprises take to boost their productivity? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

From laundromats to dental practices, micro-, small, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) account for two-thirds of employment in advanced economies and nearly four-fifths in emerging markets. However, their productivity significantly lags behind that of larger companies, particularly in emerging countries. Closing this productivity gap could boost global GDP by 5–10 percent, say McKinsey Global Institute director Olivia White and coauthors. Drawing from their granular analysis of 16 economies across various sectors, the authors recommend that MSMEs collaborate with large firms to enhance R&D and technology capabilities, cooperate for knowledge and resource sharing, and use government policy support to access technology, new markets, and financing. They argue that improving MSME productivity benefits both MSMEs and large enterprises, as their productivity moves in tandem in most subsectors.

Gen Z could be the answer to the US manufacturing labor shortage, wherein barely six in ten vacancies have been filled since 2020. Although Gen Z has demonstrated a greater interest in manufacturing careers than previous generations have, and more comfort with its technologies, they also value meaningful work, career development, flexibility, and caring leadership, according to research by senior partner Fernando Perez and coauthors. To attract and retain these younger workers, manufacturers could offer flexible work arrangements, provide skills-based training that empowers them to solve operational issues, and connect their work to a broader sense of purpose. But leaders should act swiftly to engage their Gen Z workforce, the authors say, given that 48 percent of them intend to leave their positions within three to six months.

Cash may soon lose its luster in Latin America, where many people still receive wages and make purchases exclusively in cash. That’s because the region is rapidly undergoing “bancarization,” the expansion of financial services, including online banking, to the unbanked population. A 2023 survey by partner Jesús Moreno and coauthors reveals that 70 percent of Spanish-speaking Latin American consumers prefer noncash payments, such as debit cards, credit cards, and mobile payments, compared with just 41 percent in their 2021 survey. The authors suggest that this trend presents opportunities for banks and financial-services companies in the region to innovate and customize payment solutions that improve customer experiences. They can make their offerings more appealing to specific customer segments that favor one digital payment method over another; 17 percent of millennials in Latin America, for example, prefer mobile payments, while only 12 percent of Gen Z consumers do.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features writer, facilitator, and speaker Elaine Lin Hering discussing her new book, Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully (Penguin Random House, March 2024). Hering highlights the pervasive culture of learned silence in the workplace, particularly how it suppresses minority voices, and suggests strategies that leaders can use to break it, such as normalizing dissent and sharing positive stories of colleagues speaking up and being rewarded for doing so.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




May 2, 2024

Which sectors could see the greatest value from quantum technologies by 2035? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Quantum technologies, which include computing, sensing, and communication, offer significant performance improvements over their classical counterparts. Early commercial applications are emerging from labs, with the potential to generate a combined $2 trillion in value across the chemicals, life sciences, finance, and mobility sectors by 2035, according to analysis in McKinsey’s third annual Quantum Technology Monitor written by senior partner Rodney Zemmel and colleagues. Global funding for QT development and commercialization also continues to surge: despite a 27 percent decrease in private funding for QT start-ups in 2023 (less drastic than the 38 percent dip for all start-ups), global public investments surged more than 50 percent, bringing the total to about $42 billion. The authors note the emergence of regional innovation clusters, which bring together industry, academia, and government to accelerate technology development and commercialization. Such collaborations, they argue, are also crucial for building up the capabilities of the 367,000 students who graduated in 2023 with QT-relevant degrees and giving them access to state-of-the-art hardware.

Despite recent gains in Asian and Pacific Islander (API) representation in film and television, more than 70 percent of API consumers still perceive a lack of authenticity in portraying their stories and experiences on-screen. That’s a missed opportunity for the entertainment industry, say senior partner Kabir Ahuja and coauthors. Their research found that nearly half of Asian Americans indicated they’d spend more money on film and TV and consume more content if API experiences were more authentically represented. Their analysis estimates that improving the authenticity of API representation could unlock $2 billion to $4 billion in annual revenues today and could double that by 2060. The authors recommend specific actions, such as promoting API professionals to leadership roles with green-lighting authority, establishing dedicated funds for API projects, and considering international market potential when evaluating projects.

Although generative AI has the potential to revolutionize contact centers, it has yet to be widely adopted because of inconsistent data quality, a misunderstanding of the use cases, and inadequate change management (because it’s never just tech). To address these challenges, senior partner Rohit Sood and coauthors suggest that organizations conduct AI readiness assessments of their servicing strategies, operations, technologies, and talent capabilities. They also propose a three-stage approach to build up AI proficiency and demonstrate its impact: starting with lower-risk tools and basic use cases, then expanding to internal use cases such as human agents using AI for knowledge extraction and summarization, and finally, deploying customized applications such as empathetic and intelligent AI agents.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins, global cochairs of the architecture and design firm Gensler, discussing their new book, Design for a Radically Changing World (Oro Editions, March 2024). The authors discuss how design fundamentally affects our daily lives and can be harnessed as a “hope multiplier” by changing how we live, work, and play when facing “crisis multipliers” like climate change, economic volatility, and geopolitical instability.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




April 25, 2024

What does it take to double industry performance in healthcare? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Within a complex and evolving healthcare landscape, an organization’s business model is crucial for value creation. Most US healthcare systems adopt some combination of two primary models: vertical integration (owning multiple segments of the healthcare value chain) or pure-play specialization (focusing on core activities). In recent years, vertical integration models have experienced much stronger growth rates, according to research by senior partner Shubham Singhal and coauthors; for instance, “capital light” integrated delivery models, which exclude capital-intensive acute care facilities, doubled the performance of the overall healthcare industry from 2017 to 2022. The authors note, however, that both models could be optimized to spur growth: for example, vertically integrated models can excel through digital member engagement, and pure-play models can succeed by enhancing productivity and onboarding technologies such as AI and automation. Regardless of the primary model chosen, organizations must develop distinctive capabilities to unlock the more than $1 trillion in value that Singhal and colleagues estimate exists within the healthcare ecosystem.

Following the landmark passage in 2022 of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—a $500 billion investment in clean energy, healthcare, and tax reforms—state governments are transitioning from designing programs to secure federal grants and efficiently deploy funds to implementing them in 2024. A recent update to McKinsey’s 2022 IRA analysis by senior partner Adi Kumar and coauthors features a summary of implementation insights from four related McKinsey articles. These articles offer strategies for states to accelerate decarbonization, such as establishing a comprehensive emissions baseline, and to promote equity in program delivery, such as involving diverse stakeholders in the decision-making process and committing to a transparent investment process.

Digital twins—virtual replicas of real-world systems, products, or processes—have the potential to accelerate innovation in the medtech industry by reducing R&D costs and enabling personalized patient care. However, medtech companies face challenges in adopting this technology, including a shortage of suitable capabilities, limited data access, and a lack of clear strategies. To facilitate successful implementation and eventual scaling, senior partner Jack Donohew and coauthors recommend a three-pronged agile approach to digital-twin delivery: start with high-feasibility use cases, build a test-and-learn culture, and engage potential users in the design, development, and implementation stages. Already, real-world medtech applications of digital twins have demonstrated 20 to 50 percent reductions in time-to-market and 75 percent reductions in clinical trial costs.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features William Ury, cofounder of the Harvard Program on Negotiation and author of the 1981 classic Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In, talking about his new book, Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict (Harper Business/HarperCollins Publishers, February 2024). Ury describes himself as a “possibilist” who believes in the human potential to transform conflicts from destructive fights into creative negotiations and posits strategies for doing so, such as going to the balcony (zooming out) instead of reacting and engaging the third side (the shared surrounding community) instead of seeing the conflict as purely “us versus them.”

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




April 18, 2024

How can companies help employees who lack skills, will, and time management capacity? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Productivity can vary widely, with top-performing employees delivering up to eight times the productivity of average performers in the same role. But that talent gap is costing companies, say senior partner Vincent Bérubé and coauthors. Their research indicates that a lack of skills, motivation, and time management efficiency is driving up attrition and vacancy rates, which could cost a median-size S&P 500 company roughly $480 million a year in lost productivity. The authors contend that companies should view their employees as their most valuable resource, and they recommend five HR-led actions to take to maximize the organization’s “return on talent,” among them, investing in tailored learning and development programs and fostering a high-performance culture.

Private equity buyout managers have historically relied on debt-funded acquisitions and boosting valuations to generate returns. Fund performance, however, has suffered since 2020 due to rising debt costs and tighter liquidity. In the current environment, PE buyout managers can improve fund performance by prioritizing operational efficiency in their assessment and management of portfolio companies, say senior partners Jose Luis Blanco and Jason Phillips and their coauthors. Their analysis reveals that PE general partners who focus on creating value through operational improvements have boosted their internal rates of return by two to three percentage points.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks, exclusive to the McKinsey Insights app, features Harvard Law School professor and bestselling author Cass Sunstein talking about his new book, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There (Atria/One Signal Publishers, February 2024) cowritten with neuroscientist and professor Tali Sharot. Sunstein argues that habituation dulls creativity in business and notes that organizations can take a range of actions to reignite it, from encouraging employees to break routines by walking around the workplace and interacting with new people to establishing a “dishabituation project” where employees temporarily take on a new role to gain fresh perspectives.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




April 11, 2024

How can space technology help boost revenues for industries outside of core space services? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

The space economy is rapidly expanding, driven by surging demand for satellite connectivity, positioning, navigation, and AI-enabled insights of extensive Earth-observation data sets. According to research led by senior partner Ryan Brukardt and collaborators at McKinsey and the World Economic Forum, the space industry could grow to $1.8 trillion by 2035, from $630 billion in 2023. Over 60 percent of that growth will be propelled by “reach” applications in industries such as supply chain and transportation, food, consumer goods, and digital communications—outpacing the expected contribution from “backbone” industry sectors like space hardware, space launchers, and satellite services. The authors note that even space tourism and manufacturing are poised to generate revenues by 2035.

Commercial aerospace is grappling with a record order backlog of more than 15,000 aircraft, which, at current production rates, would take 13 years to be cleared. At the core of the issue are supply chain disruptions, an issue raised 18 times more often by aerospace executives on earnings calls in 2022 compared with 2014, note senior partner Mike Parkins and coauthors. To reduce the backlog and mitigate against further disruptions, the authors recommend a comprehensive approach focused on using data and analytics for greater supply chain visibility, fostering cross-functional collaboration and talent upskilling, and proactively assessing risks. This comprehensive strategy, they say, has helped one aerospace parts manufacturer quickly reduce shortages by over 25 percent.

Construction and manufacturing in the United States is facing a severe shortage of skilled tradespeople due to high churn from the COVID-19 pandemic, an aging workforce, and too few young people pursuing these roles. For critical skilled trades roles, there could be 20 job openings annually for every single net new employee added between 2022 and 2032, say senior partner Brooke Weddle and coauthors. Their analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics data also suggests that companies may have to spend up to $5.3 billion annually to hire and train new talent to fill these roles. To plug leaks in the talent pipeline, the authors recommend regional collaboration among employers, educators, and government to support training, recruitment initiatives (such as attractive sign-on bonuses and relocation packages), and productivity boosters (such as using “cobots,” or collaborative robots, to automate rote tasks).

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features McKinsey senior partners Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vik Malhotra offering reflections on the two-year anniversary of their bestselling book, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest (Scribner/Simon & Schuster, March 2022). In the final installment of a three-part conversation with McKinsey Global Publishing leader Raju Narisetti, the authors share how writing the book changed their own approach to CEO counseling and introduce a new framework they are developing called “The four seasons of a CEO.”

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.

With McKinsey, it’s never just tech. Find out how we apply strategy, deep domain expertise, and more to help clients outcompete with technology and transform their companies.




April 4, 2024

How can retailers use loyalty, pricing, and personalization to deliver greater value to cost-conscious customers? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

In today’s challenging economic landscape, retailers must find ways to stand out and attract hesitant shoppers. Most companies do so through loyalty programs, pricing strategies, and promotions. However, senior partner Emily Reasor and coauthors suggest a more effective approach: developing and deploying an integrated and customized customer strategy and experience. They note, for example, that companies piloting personalized pricing and marketing have seen two to four percentage point increases in gross profit margins, compared with those using standard offers. Realizing the full value of integration and personalization, they say, will require retailers to overcome three important challenges: coordinating cross-functional teams, building analytical capabilities, and delivering a clear and simple customer experience.

Toxic workplaces, interpersonal conflicts, and negative team dynamics are contributing to burnout and rising attrition among US nurses. A recent survey of nearly 6,000 nurses conducted by senior partner Gretchen Berlin and collaborators at McKinsey and the American Nurses Foundation found that 45 percent of early-tenure nurses (less than five years of experience) may leave their roles within six months, compared with 27 percent of most-tenured nurses (21 or more years). To retain nurses, the authors recommend that healthcare leaders offer flexible schedules, create mentorship programs, and foster a positive work environment through team-building exercises and enforcement of anti-bullying policies. Addressing these workforce challenges is crucial for strengthening the nursing pipeline and ensuring adequate staffing for quality patient care.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features Pulitzer Prize–winning author Charles Duhigg discussing his new book, Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection (Random House, February 2024). Duhigg notes that “supercommunicators” ask ten to 20 times more questions than the average person and match their communication style to the type of conversation occurring. He also argues that rich conversation can happen in virtual work settings if you keep in mind the rules of each communication channel.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




March 28, 2024

Why the world’s largest financial institutions are choosing centralization as their generative AI operating model. Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that generative AI (gen AI) could boost the global banking sector’s annual revenue by $200 billion to $340 billion, mainly through productivity gains. However, many financial institutions still face significant challenges in deploying gen AI effectively. To address this, senior partner Kevin Buehler and his coauthors advocate for an operating model that manages gen AI’s unique features and risks. They note that a centralized model has been the most successful approach for more than half of the 16 largest financial institutions in Europe and the United States. Central oversight allows for streamlined talent management, risk mitigation, technology updates, and application scaling. As the technology matures, the authors expect a shift toward decentralization.

Fueled by Scope 3 emissions targets, demand for green transportation is projected to surge from a projected 2 percent of logistics spending in 2025 to 15 percent by 2030. Despite this strong demand signal, logistics companies are struggling to make green services profitable. To bridge the gap, senior partner Matteo Pacca and coauthors argue that logistics companies could shift the conversation from cost to value by bundling green offerings with premium services and collaborating with their customers to show end consumers the environmental benefits of premium pricing.

An aging global population is reshaping the demand for government services, yet the public sector workforce isn’t keeping pace. Gen Z is expected to comprise 30 percent of the global workforce by 2030 but represented only 1.6 percent of the US federal workforce in 2021. Averting this looming talent crisis will require a holistic approach to talent management, say senior partner Julia Klier and coauthors. They outline six priorities that public sector leaders can deploy to harness—rather than be overwhelmed by—the shifting demographic trends, including developing a compelling employee value proposition and establishing dynamic career pathways.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features coauthors Philip Kotler (professor emeritus of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management) and Guiseppe Stigliano (CEO of Spring Studios) discussing their new book, Redefining Retail: 10 Guiding Principles for a Post-Digital World (Wiley, January 2024). They argue that retailing is experiencing a “perfect storm” of mall closings, pandemic-amplified online shopping, and disintermediation and recommend strategies companies can take to thrive in the new retail environment, including optimizing sales and marketing channels based on consumer behavior.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




March 21, 2024

Many organizations are prioritizing generative AI, but few feel comfortable implementing it responsibly. Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Generative AI (gen AI) promises to boost innovation and productivity and add trillions to the global economy. However, this rapidly evolving technology carries risks such as bias, misinformation, and security vulnerabilities. A recent McKinsey survey reveals that 63 percent of organizations see gen AI as a priority, yet 91 percent of these respondents feel unprepared to manage the risks. To address this concern, senior partners Ida Kristensen and Lareina Yee and coauthors offer a blueprint for responsible gen AI implementation that includes focusing on efficient risk assessment, establishing a governance structure that balances technical expertise and oversight, and providing targeted training to end users.

One-third of the average person’s life—more than 90,000 hours—is spent at work. By prioritizing employee health, companies can reduce absenteeism, turnover, “presenteeism,” and work-related injuries and illnesses, argue partner Barbara Jeffery, senior partner Patrick Simon, and colleagues at the McKinsey Health Institute. They’ve identified six key drivers of employee health and well-being that employers can influence: among them, social interactions, mindsets and beliefs, and economic security. Healthier employees mean healthier businesses and societies, which, the authors estimate, could unlock $3.7 trillion to $11.7 trillion in value, equivalent to a 4 to 12 percent boost to the global GDP.

More than half of the world’s eight billion people are not economically empowered, lacking the means to afford adequate nutrition, education, healthcare, and other essentials. The newest McKinsey Explainer, which explores the question, “What is economic inclusion?,” asserts that closing the economic empowerment gap (while also achieving net-zero emissions by 2030) would require additional resources amounting to 8 percent of annual global GDP. Businesses could be crucial in bridging this divide by creating high-productivity jobs and upskilling their workforce, especially those at risk of AI automation. Beyond the productivity benefits, a true inclusive economy, argues McKinsey’s chief client officer Liz Hilton Segel, is one that provides opportunities for underserved people and communities, creates higher-wage and more fulfilling jobs, and meets people’s mental health needs.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features McKinsey senior partners Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra, offering reflections on the two-year anniversary of their bestselling book, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest (Scribner/Simon & Schuster, March 2022). In the first installment of a three-part conversation with McKinsey Global Publishing leader Raju Narisetti, the authors recount the journey of writing the book and share their reactions to the overwhelmingly positive reception it has received from CEOs, other leaders, and even students.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




March 14, 2024

Generative AI sets higher demands on organizations for productivity, performance, and personalization in customer care. Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Customer demands. Organizational customer care leaders find themselves trapped in no-man’s-land as they balance preparing for an AI-enabled future with managing escalating customer expectations in a rapidly digitizing contact center environment. Partners Eric Buesing, Julian Raabe, and coauthors report that more than 80 percent of organizations are investing in generative AI or plan to do so soon, even as 57 percent anticipate increased call volumes in the next one to two years. Leaders are responding by prioritizing technology upgrades, operational efficiency, employee upskilling, and outsourcing partnerships—all while enhancing the customer experience and hitting revenue targets.

Cyber risks in finance. Financial institutions are rapidly adopting emerging technologies, such as cloud computing and AI, but 70 percent believe they are underspending on cybersecurity to mitigate growing risks. A recent report from partner Justin Greis, McKinsey colleagues, and collaborators at the Institute of International Finance reveals shortfalls in key capabilities such as third-party risk management (a top weakness for 65 percent of institutions) and attracting skilled talent. The report urges strategic alignment of tech priorities with security investments to harness these transformative technologies securely.

Data-driven railways. AI could unlock $13 billion to $22 billion annually for the relatively data-sparse railway industry. Still, only 25 percent of rail companies have successfully adopted AI at scale, write senior partner Nicola Sandri and coauthors. The most mature at-scale use cases include shift optimization, predictive maintenance, and security. The authors note that railways can unlock these technologies’ transformative potential by setting clear technology objectives, investing in talent upskilling, and partnering with data-driven organizations.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features Chris Dixon, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, speaking about his new book, Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet (Random House, January 2024). Dixon argues that the internet has become overly centralized and makes the case for a decentralized architecture using blockchain technology to restore openness, empower users and creators, and promote innovation.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




March 7, 2024

Why organizational surgery may be needed before companies can see the full benefits of generative AI. Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Organizational rewiring. Companies are finding that realizing the potential value of generative AI (gen AI)—for everything from customer service to content creation—is harder than expected. According to senior partners Eric Lamarre, Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky, and Rodney Zemmel, to truly benefit from gen AI, organizations must focus on rewiring the business for distributed digital and AI innovation. That involves developing the capabilities to broadly innovate, deploy, and improve scalable solutions. They note that the cost to build an AI model is often a small portion (10–15 percent) of the total cost—the real investment lies in making it work at scale.

Banking on gen AI. Gen AI has the potential to enhance risk management, compliance, and decision making in the banking industry. Senior partner Ida Kristensen and coauthors share how banks can improve efficiency and strengthen risk prevention by deploying virtual experts, automating manual processes, and accelerating code development. However, banks may also need to build or invest in high-quality data sets to ensure the accuracy of their gen AI applications.

Board director responsibilities. As the business world becomes more complex, board directors face a growing number of responsibilities, including keeping up with the latest developments in geopolitics, technology, and sustainability. They’re also expected to engage more deeply with senior management on strategy, investments, M&A, talent, and organizational issues. In a recent episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, McKinsey senior partner Frithjof Lund and corporate board members Karen McLoughlin and Steven Sterin share tips that board directors can use to create value, including inviting new directors to meet on-site with the company’s frontline leadership. Given the likelihood of ever-increasing responsibilities, Sterin suggests that directors may also need to consider reducing the number of boards they serve on.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features former executive vice president and COO of PepsiCo Grace Puma speaking about her new book, Career Forward: Strategies from Women Who’ve Made It (Scribner/Simon & Schuster, February 2024), coauthored with Christiana Shi, a former Nike executive and McKinsey senior partner emeritus. Puma details how working women can shatter the glass ceiling and describes five essential elements that define long-term career success.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




February 29, 2024

Will AI be to the Fourth Industrial Revolution what steam was to the first? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Just as the First Industrial Revolution was powered by steam, our current Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) will be powered by AI. Enabled by the capture of terabytes of data from a broad range of sources, AI can accelerate industrial innovation. Senior partner Enno de Boer and coauthors suggest that organizations at the forefront of 4IR won’t, for instance, run narrow trials to transform factories but will instead use entire factories as pilots for networkwide deployment.

A compelling equity story is necessary to attract capital from large, sophisticated investors. Partners Jamie Koenig, Anna Mattsson, and coauthors detail mistakes companies often make when attempting to convince these investors. To convey a winning equity story, leaders should avoid canned presentations and instead articulate a plan for long-term value creation that’s backed by evidence of tangible steps already taken. It’s important to focus on a limited number of vital themes and make sure they’re contextualized within broader industry trends.

Generative AI (gen AI) could be transformative for American state governments. Gen AI is here now, can be user-friendly, and doesn’t necessarily require an overhaul of existing IT infrastructure. Senior partners Gayatri Shenai, Tim Ward, and coauthors say state governments that seize the gen AI opportunity could be rewarded with improved operational efficiency, better resident experiences, useful insights from existing data sets, and enhanced talent management.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features organizational psychologist Robert I. Sutton speaking about his new book, The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan Publishers, January 2024). Sutton explains how leaders can reduce bad friction (that harms productivity) and inject good friction (that prevents, for instance, unethical behavior) into their organizations.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




February 22, 2024

Is M&A poised for a comeback? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Global M&A activity fell by 16 percent in 2023. But a surge in the fourth quarter suggests that M&A could be on a path to recovery. Senior partners Jake Henry and Mieke Van Oostende say the market remains durable, in part because M&A is a vital strategic lever for companies adapting to shifts in the business landscape. Much cash remains on the sidelines, and healthy job growth, robust consumer spending, and subsiding inflation fears all point to a more favorable environment for M&A in 2024.

Self-assessments gathered from more than 100 CEOs, mostly representing companies headquartered in Asia, reveal the issues weighing on corporate leaders today. Many CEOs report that they are least confident in their ability to engage effectively with board members and to allocate resources objectively (especially when it means shutting down initiatives). But most CEOs feel secure in their ability to set a vision for an organization, remain true to their convictions, and practice gratitude and humility. Senior partners Gautam Kumra, Joydeep Sengupta, and Mukund Sridhar note that when CEOs take the time to pause, reflect, and invest in their learning, they can improve their confidence across a broad range of duties.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, speaking about his new book, The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset That Drives Extraordinary Results (Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group, November 2023). McAfee explains his theory that a corporate culture built on obsessiveness and unconventionality is more likely to thrive.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




February 15, 2024

Why do healthy organizations outperform unhealthy ones by as much as three to one? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

More than two decades of McKinsey research shows that organizational health remains the top indicator of a company’s long-term success and sustained performance. According to McKinsey senior partner Arne Gast and coauthors, healthy organizations exhibit four foundational behaviors, among them a clear plan to execute their vision and strategy and a keen awareness of their position in the competitive landscape. They also deliver three times the TSR of unhealthy organizations. In one study, companies that improved their organizational health saw a notable 18 percent increase in EBITDA within just a year.

In the US, Black residents continue to lag their White neighbors in health, economic, and social outcomes, according to a report on the impact of location on the state of racial equity in the US. On a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey partner JP Julien notes that Black residents are doing better in the suburbs, which benefit from their proximity to high-growth cities, than in other locations but not nearly as well as they could be. Julien says that closing the racial wealth gap will require sustained private and public investment in housing, education, and economic opportunities.

For much of the past decade, the medtech industry enjoyed strong results. In recent years, however, performance has been mixed. In 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a record number of novel devices, but medtech companies’ profits still fell short of investor expectations. McKinsey senior partners Karsten Dalgaard, Gerti Pellumbi, and Peter Pfeiffer and colleagues expect another strong year of innovation in 2024, especially in the cardiovascular, digital-health-device, and neuromodulation segments. Industry growth could exceed prepandemic rates in the new year, with China, Japan, and the US continuing to lead the way, but performance across geographies could remain uneven.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features Howard Friedman, a data scientist, health economist, and adjunct professor of health policy and management at Columbia University, speaking about his new book Winning with Data Science: A Handbook for Business Leaders (Columbia Business School Publishing, January 2024). Friedman says that business leaders can get the most from their data science teams by having conversations, learning basic concepts and frameworks, and asking good questions.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Jermey Matthews, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




February 8, 2024

Differences in outcomes for Black Americans can be tied to community types. Our weekly digest explores topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

A new report on the state of Black residents looks at differences in outcomes for Black Americans living in various types of communities. Outcomes are broadly better in suburban and high-growth areas of the United States, but these places generally have smaller Black populations. In almost no areas are outcomes for Black residents on par with those of their White neighbors, and, at current rates of change, it could take centuries to achieve racial parity within communities. Senior partner Shelley Stewart III and coauthors identify affordable housing and early-childhood education as priority areas for action when it comes to narrowing racial gaps in a wide range of locales.

The payments industry is confronting greater risk, intensifying regulatory scrutiny, and shifting global standards. There are indications that delinquency levels could ramp up, which may render some prior credit models unreliable. Prioritizing risk management could help payments services providers reduce potential liabilities, protect customers, and maintain regulatory compliance. But risk management isn’t only about downside: partners Ishanaa Rambachan, Julian Sevillano, Vasiliki Stergiou, and coauthors say that risk can be a lever for growth. With strong risk management in place, companies can consider, for instance, entering markets or segments that they might previously have avoided.

The medical-aesthetics market, which includes neuromodulators (such as injectable Botox) and dermal fillers, has climbed steadily since 2019, with private-equity acquisitions growing approximately 30 percent a year from 2019 to 2021. Senior partners Olivier Leclerc, Nils Peters, and coauthor point to manufacturer innovations and an increasingly diverse consumer base as reasons to expect continuing resilience. Analysis suggests the market for medical aesthetics is potentially underserved, as many consumers say they plan to try a medical-aesthetics product in coming years.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman of Investcorp, speaking about his new book, Connecting to the Future: A Blueprint for Dynamic Leadership (Simon Element/Simon & Schuster, October 2023). Alardhi explains how the situational awareness he developed while flying fighter jets for the Royal Air Force of Oman has helped him navigate the world of investment and asset management.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




February 1, 2024

What challenges and opportunities await private markets in 2024? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Private markets face another year filled with uncertainty. Fundraising and overall deal volume were slow in 2023 and might see only modest growth in 2024. Amid this context, senior partners Fredrik Dahlqvist, Alastair Green, David Quigley, and coauthors identify ten considerations for private-market decision makers. The authors suggest that larger funds could continue to be in favor, infrastructure investing could accelerate, and real estate deal volume could ramp back up.

Individual US states could play a vital role in America’s decarbonization efforts. States should consider how to access and use national subsidies to help advance an orderly energy transition. Senior partner Adi Kumar and coauthors propose that state-level leaders can look for ways to convene public and private sector stakeholders, develop integrated energy transition plans, coordinate infrastructure projects, and catalyze the development, adoption, and scaling of climate technologies.

Semiconductor demand is expected to keep growing. Senior partners Ondrej Burkacky, Matteo Mancini, Mark Patel, and coauthors submit that, to meet this increased demand, semiconductor manufacturers could expand operations into new regions. In exploring this greenfield opportunity, manufacturers should look for locations that are secure enough to minimize supply chain risks, have access to plentiful renewable resources, and can potentially benefit from government-sponsored subsidies.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

A recent edition of Author Talks features Moshik Temkin, a fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, speaking about his new book, Warriors, Rebels, and Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X (PublicAffairs/Hachette Book Group, November 2023). Temkin says that history offers examples illuminating a wide range of leadership styles.

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




January 25, 2024

Could closing the women's health gap improve the global economy? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Women spend 25 percent more time in poor health than men, and more than half of this gap occurs during women’s working years. Expanding research into women’s health issues could improve lives while also boosting productivity. In a new report from the McKinsey Health Institute, senior partners Kweilin Ellingrud, Lucy Pérez, and their coauthors say that for every $1 invested in women’s health—including funding to address medical conditions that disproportionately affect women—$3 in economic value could be created. The impact on the global economy could equate to at least $1 trillion annually by 2040.

In a Davos debriefing, senior partner Ishaan Seth recaps banking-related themes that emerged from the recently wrapped World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. Generative AI (gen AI) was not a major topic at last year’s event, but this year, it was nearly impossible to have a conversation that didn’t touch on its implications. Ensuring preparedness for “crucible moments”—pivotal decision points that can make or break a company—is also claiming an increasing share of business leaders’ attention amid the current context of uncertainty. And while Davos delegates were largely hopeful about the possibility of an economic soft landing and pleasantly surprised at the ongoing resilience of consumer spending, banking leaders (who are acutely aware that consumer savings have become heavily depleted over the past year) still see a macroeconomic picture marked by fragility.

The shifting macroeconomic landscape could create intensifying competition within the wealth management industry in the United States. Many wealth managers are implementing more affordable client acquisition strategies, such as direct-to-consumer marketing. Meanwhile, clients are increasingly seeking one-stop-shop solutions. Senior partners Jonathan Godsall, Jill Zucker, and coauthors say that wealth managers could reposition their franchises by pursuing strategies such as expanding their offerings, leveraging gen AI capabilities, and reallocating resources to highest-conviction priorities.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




January 18, 2024

Will 2024 offer stagnation—or a chance to lift productivity? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Ongoing economic uncertainty could provide companies with a three-sided productivity opportunity. By upskilling workers and updating operations, offsetting higher input prices and interest rates by leveraging capital, and investing in technology and innovation, companies can boost their growth and profitability even while navigating a shifting landscape. Senior partners Asutosh Padhi, Sven Smit, and their coauthor say that business productivity gains writ large could eventually translate into GDP growth, higher living standards, and the advent of future abundance.

Thirty percent of CEOs don’t make it past year three in the role. In discussions with dozens of CEOs from around the world, senior partners Carolyn Dewar and Vik Malhotra have found that many CEOs feel they could have performed better in year one. Four key elements of preparation can help a prospective CEO hit the ground running: assess your motivations and expectations, inform your outlook on the future of your company and industry, inject humility into your perspective, and deeply understand the board’s selection process so you can align your vision with it.

More than half of employees say they are disengaged at work, according to recent McKinsey research. Senior partner Aaron De Smet and coauthors suggest that employers can use a short quiz to help determine where workers fall on the satisfaction spectrum. By understanding employee archetypes—from disruptor to thriving star—and improving engagement through different tactics tailored to each group, employers can create healthier workplaces while improving organizational performance.

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI. 

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




January 11, 2024

Which digital ideas are flying under the radar? Our weekly digest explores that topic and more.

This week’s headline findings:

Generative AI (gen AI) is getting a lot of attention, but it’s important that business leaders not ignore other digital topics that are core imperatives. Senior partners Kate Smaje and Rodney Zemmel identify ten ideas flying slightly under the radar that could help shape the modern business landscape. Among them: innovators dominate headlines, but only those that scale a technology can dominate markets (more than 40 percent of digital and AI transformations stall out at the scaling phase); well-implemented digital solutions compound competitive advantages (the distance between digital AI leaders and their competitors has increased by 60 percent over the past three years); and—as simple as it sounds, it’s sometimes overlooked—the ultimate purpose of new digital initiatives is to build value (organizations that lead successful transformations deliver, on average, 2.7 times the value they initially expected).

Regulatory bodies are weighing possible policies governing the use of AI and gen AI. Concerns involve issues such as intellectual property infringement, privacy violations, and the spread of misinformation. Senior partner Daniel Mikkelsen and coauthors say organizations should prepare now by self-regulating to avoid potential legal, financial, and reputational risks. Among the no-regrets actions that organizations can take today: create transparency on AI and gen AI usage, implement governance structures that ensure oversight and accountability, and educate users about their individual rights.

When a CEO prepares to exit the role, the moment is fraught with risks for both the executive and the organization. Finding the right time can be difficult, as many CEOs feel they can’t leave when times are tough but don’t want to leave when things are going great. In an appearance on McKinsey’s Inside the Strategy Room podcast, senior partners Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, and partner Blair Epstein say CEOs should prepare for their successions (in consultation with their boards) from day one, ensure their potential successors receive proper leadership development and experience, and err on the side of leaving too early instead of too late. After the transition happens, former CEOs should get out of the way (and consider taking some time off before diving into anything else).

Further notable analysis from McKinsey:

The case study collection Rewired in Action illuminates companies that have launched digital transformations to build value. Supported by technical and industry expertise from McKinsey, these organizations have changed their trajectories through the integration of digital and AI.

This briefing note, based on McKinsey’s latest published insights, was prepared by Seth Stevenson, a senior editor in McKinsey’s New York office.

Do these insights resonate with you? What else should we be writing about now? Tell us by emailing insightstoimpact@mckinsey.com.




For McKinsey’s 2023 perspectives on sustainable and inclusive growth, visit our archive of briefing notes that were published throughout the year.