Share this email
The job of the senior finance executive isn’t what it used to be. Traditional duties—including budgeting, planning, and risk mitigation—remain crucial components of the role. But CFOs now also serve as advisers to CEOs on organizational priorities and strategy, performance challengers, innovation champions, leaders of major investments and transactions, and convenors of cross-enterprise initiatives. And in today’s volatile business environment, CFOs must evaluate the potential impact of climate risks, geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic disruptions, and technological advances.In our first featured story, McKinsey’s Ankur Agrawal, Christian Grube, Karolina Sauer-Sidor, and Andy West interview eight former CFOs about their finance careers and outline five priorities that CFO hopefuls should consider embracing. Our second story explores how CFOs can raise their games above functional expertise to achieve real strategic impact. Other highlights include the following topics:
•
where CEOs should focus their energies to enable their organizations to thrive
the increasingly blurred lines between the digital and physical
how leaders can establish a talent system that generates higher returns over the long term
the latest opportunities in quantum technology
Amid decade-high CFO turnover, former chief financial officers share advice on what matters most today for securing the top job in finance.
Make big bets
It’s hard to create outsize value when you have to manage the finance function’s daily and often urgent demands. But some CFOs rise to the challenge.
Rise to the challenge
THIS MONTH’s HIGHLIGHTS
Leaders today confront a raft of complexities. Here’s what will matter most as 2024 evolves—and how CEOs can reckon with ongoing disruption successfully.Drive performance
A tsunami of digital innovation is hitting product development. Will your organization surf that wave or be overwhelmed by it?Follow the white rabbit
Five actions can transform an organization’s talent system, establishing a culture of performance while boosting employee experience.Read more
Quantum technology could create value worth trillions of dollars within the next decade. The third annual Quantum Technology Monitor synthesizes the latest opportunities in this burgeoning field.Discover the latest trends
As the space economy expands, it could create value for multiple industries and solve many of the world’s most pressing challenges.Reach for the stars
As increased commodity trading value pools attract new competition, successful players will differentiate by managing illiquid risks and embracing data-driven trading models.See the forecast
ALSO New
Impacting audiences across the globe: CEO Excellence revisited
Stand and deliver: Three imperatives for civil servants
Why strategists should embrace imperfection
State of Grocery Europe 2024: Signs of Hope
Engage your workforce
Bridging private equity’s value creation gap
Members only: Delivering greater value through loyalty and pricing
Unlocking autonomous-vehicle development: TIER IV’s open-source blueprint
The generative AI opportunity in airline maintenance
Consumers rule: Driving healthcare growth with a consumer-led strategy
How institutional investors can gain a performance edge
Everything you wanted to know about carbon removals but were afraid to ask
Explore
Tech doesn’t create value by itself. We’re helping clients unlock its full potential with the right strategies, skills, operating models, and data. With McKinsey, it’s never just tech.
Get started
Special features
Find direct answers to complex questions, backed by McKinsey’s expert insights.Learn more
Browse our essential reading on the topics that matter.Get up to speed
Explore this month’s best-selling business books prepared exclusively for McKinsey Publishing by Circana.See the lists
See our daily chart that helps explain a changing world—as we strive for sustainable, inclusive growth.Dive in
Research suggests that the secret to developing effective leaders is to encourage four types of behavior. Read our 2015 classic “Decoding leadership: What really matters” to learn more.Rewind
The Daily Read newsletter highlights an article a day, picked by our editors.Subscribe now
— Edited by Eleni Kostopoulos, managing editor, New York
Follow our thinking
McKinsey Insights - Get our latest thinking on your iPhone, iPad or Android.
Share these insights
Did you enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to colleagues and friends so they can subscribe too. Was this issue forwarded to you? Sign up for it and sample our 40+ other free email subscriptions here.
