The Weekend Read

McKinsey & Company

The Daily Read Weekend Edition

CURATED PICKS FOR YOUR DOWNTIME, FROM OUR EDITORS

Brought to you by Alex Panas, global leader of industries, & Axel Karlsson, global leader of functional practices and growth platforms

Welcome to the first edition of The Weekend Read. We hope you find our perspectives useful. Let us know what you think at Alex_Panas@McKinsey.com and Axel_Karlsson@McKinsey.com.

—Alex and Axel

Are you ready to dive into September? In this inaugural issue of The Weekend Read—our new weekly newsletter replacing The Daily Read—we offer a diverse set of recent highlights to kick off the month. Read about New York’s status as a global fashion capital, creating value in retail, the drive toward human development, and more.

An image linking to the web page “Unlock New York's fashion potential” on McKinsey.com

It’s New York Fashion Week and Colleen Baum , Maurice Obeid , and coauthors explore what is needed to maintain New York’s prominence as a global fashion capital.

Unlock New York's fashion potential

An image linking to the web page “Retail’s outperformers: Lessons in value creation” on McKinsey.com

How can retailers of all sizes create value in the intensely competitive retail industry? Based on an analysis of 280 publicly traded retailers, Becca Coggins and coauthors outline five actions that enabled ascendant retailers—or “movers”—to rise above challenging economic conditions.

5 common themes

An image linking to the web page “Has the drive toward human development been thrown into reverse?” on McKinsey.com

Pedro Conceição, director of the Human Development Report Office of the UNDP, talks about growing inequality, a failure to manage growing global interdependency, the need for a 21st-century architecture to deliver global public goods, and more.

Challenges and opportunities

An image linking to the web page “CEO and chairman Sean Doyle on British Airways’ transformation” on McKinsey.com

Sean Doyle, CEO and chairman of British Airways (BA), speaks to senior partner Stephanie Hauser about BA’s £7 billion transformation plan—the largest investment in modernization in the airline’s history.

Prepare for liftoff

Ready to unwind?

An image linking to the web page “Author Talks: What if Benjamin Franklin were around now?” on McKinsey.com

Author Talks: What if Benjamin Franklin were around now?

Benjamin Franklin adopted a multidisciplinary approach to education and innovation that made him ahead of his time. Eric Weiner explores Franklin’s enduring legacy and its modern-day applications.

The art of the possible

An image linking to the web page “The gen AI skills revolution: Rethinking your talent strategy” on McKinsey.com

The gen AI skills revolution: Rethinking your talent strategy

Developing the software talent companies need to grow means thinking in terms of skills rather than roles to navigate this period of uncertainty around talent.

An image linking to the web page “The McKinsey Crossword: Commercial-Free | No. 196” on McKinsey.com

68-Down: Things blocked from this puzzle’s long answers

Know the answer? Test yourself with the latest McKinsey Crossword, Commercial-Free | No. 196

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—Edited by Joyce Yoo, editor, New York

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