Long before someone takes the corner office, they need to build the skills and rapport that will help them thrive once they move in. That CEO journey is the focus of this episode of The McKinsey Podcast with McKinsey Partner Blair Epstein, Senior Partner Carolyn Dewar, Partner Julia McClatchy, and Senior Partner Vik Malhotra. They share their collective insights with Roberta Fusaro, McKinsey editorial director, about how CEOs should prepare for the role, navigate those critical early days, sustain personal and organizational performance, and continue to evolve their leadership styles.

A CEO for All Seasons book: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-on-books/ceo-for-all-seasons

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: TheMcKinseyPodcast@mckinsey.com

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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As AI capabilities accelerate, nearly anyone can create software. The real business constraint is no longer code, but judgment: how quickly an organization can learn, adapt, and redeploy talent at scale. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy joins McKinsey’s North America Chair Eric Kutcher to dig into how AI is industrializing intelligence, supercharging productivity, and forcing leaders to rethink everything from pricing models to workforce strategy.

In this recurring series on The McKinsey Podcast, Eric speaks with top CEOs about the practice of leadership

The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

To watch the full-length version of this interview, visit The McKinsey Podcast playlist on McKinsey’s YouTube channel.

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Affordable luxury: It may sound like an oxymoron, but in an uncertain economy, it’s striking a chord with cautious consumers looking for value—and expecting more from the brands they buy. “Brands are actively thinking about the fact that people are shifting their spending,” according to McKinsey Senior Partner Gemma D’Auria. “If they want to stay relevant, they need to meet their customers where they are.” In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, D’Auria and McKinsey Senior Partner Holger Harreis speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about , including what consumers want, where they’re finding it, and how fashion executives can use AI to enhance creativity, competitiveness, and the customer experience overall.

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: TheMcKinseyPodcast@mckinsey.com

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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Tariff tumult. Shifting geopolitical alliances. AI acceleration. Structural shifts are reshaping global trade. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Shubham Singhal and McKinsey Partner Jeongmin Seong speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about how to adapt to the current phase of global trade reconfiguration—from where to manufacture to supply chain decisions—and how best to invest.

In the second half of this episode, McKinsey Senior Partner Kate Smaje joins Lucia to answer some audience questions from our last McKinsey Live webinar, based on the second edition of the book Rewired, about how to rewire your organization in the age of digital and AI.

This episode has been adapted from our McKinsey Live webinar series.

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McKinsey’s latest research on global banking demonstrates that artificial intelligence isn’t just another efficiency play for financial institutions; it represents a fundamental shift in how these companies manage costs, attract and retain customers, and stay ahead of the competition. In this episode, Ido Segev, McKinsey senior partner and Roberta Fusaro, editorial director talk about the speed with which AI is advancing, what’s holding banks back from scaling it, and the potential advantages for early movers.

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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For more than a century, medicine has largely followed a one-size-fits-all model—but that paradigm is beginning to break. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, joins Eric Kutcher, McKinsey’s North America chair, to explore how mRNA technology is transforming healthcare. From the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines to new approaches to rare genetic diseases and individualized cancer treatments, Bancel explains how treating biology as information could reshape how drugs are discovered, manufactured, and delivered.

In this recurring series, Eric speaks with top CEOs about the practice of leadership.

The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

To watch the full-length version of this interview, visit The McKinsey Podcast playlist on McKinsey’s YouTube channel.

See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

A historic wave of ownership transitions is set to reshape the backbone of the US economy. The fate of jobs, local spending, and wealth creation all hinge on whether enough qualified—and diverse—buyers can step in to continue to pave the way for small business ownership. In this episode, Shelley Stewart III, McKinsey senior partner and Roberta Fusaro, editorial director, talk about the scale and stakes of the "Great Ownership transfer". After, Ken Yearwood, McKinsey partner, joins to talk about the risks of inaction and the practical pathways to making these transitions work.

The McKinsey Podcast: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-podcast

Shelley Stewart III: https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/shelley-stewart

The Great Ownership Transfer report: https://www.mckinsey.com/institute-for-economic-mobility/our-insights/the-great-ownership-transfer-a-new-era-of-business-stewardship

McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility: https://www.mckinsey.com/institute-for-economic-mobility/overview

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

As generative and agentic AI reshape how work gets done, the real divide isn’t who has the best ideas—it’s who can turn them into real results at speed and scale. In this webinar, McKinsey Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly speaks with Senior Partners Kate Smaje and Robert Levin about the updated Rewired playbook—and why winning with AI now depends less on ambition and more on building the organizational capabilities to deliver.

The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

This conversation has been adapted from our McKinsey Live series.

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information