The McKinsey Podcast

Think about your org chart. Now imagine it features both your current colleagues—humans, if you’re like most of us—and AI agents. That’s not science fiction; it’s happening. And it’s happening relatively quickly, according to McKinsey Senior Partner Jorge Amar. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, originally broadcast on McKinsey Talks Talent, Jorge joins McKinsey talent leaders Brooke Weddle and Bryan Hancock and Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to talk about what these AI agents are, how they’re being used, and how leaders can prepare now for the workforce of the not-too-distant future.

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw

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Don’t lose sight of the long term. It’s a core message from the eighth edition of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, McKinsey’s seminal guide for corporate-finance professionals. It also describes the unique investment approach of the legendary investor Warren Buffett, who will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, we hear an excerpt from our Author Talks series featuring Valuation coauthor and McKinsey Partner Tim Koller and Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro. They talk about what’s changed in the business world since the first edition of Valuation was published, some 35 years ago. He also touches on Buffett’s approach to investing, including why it worked and whether it can be replicated.

Articles/pieces mentioned:

Tariffs and trade: Preparing for the unpredictable

Confronting the affordable-housing crisis

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Pickleball, padel—yes, they’re hot. Nevertheless, a third of the world’s adults are inactive—and among youth, inactivity is even more pronounced, according to McKinsey Partner Alexander Thiel. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Alexander joins Global Editorial Director and Deputy Publisher Lucia Rahilly to discuss this year’s whipsawing consumer trends, as well as what sporting goods leaders can do to harness them to combat slowing growth.

Articles/pieces mentioned:

Can Bloomingdale’s bring the magic back to department stores?

McKinsey's 2025 annual book recommendations

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As geopolitical tensions persist, global trade dynamics are becoming increasingly complex—and many leaders find themselves on tenterhooks. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Cindy Levy and Shubham Singhal, two global coleaders of McKinsey’s geopolitics work, join Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss how to move forward amid rapidly reconfiguring trade relationships—regardless of the way current tariff talks play out.

This conversation has been adapted from our McKinsey Live series.

Articles mentioned: 

The ‘attention equation’: Winning the right battles for consumer attention

State of the Consumer 2025: When disruption becomes permanent

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The US housing crunch is bad—and it’s getting worse. Wider access to safe, affordable homes is vital to enabling economic mobility for all Americans—and to harnessing what McKinsey Partner JP Julien, a leader of the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, calls a “massive” untapped economic opportunity. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, JP joins Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss what’s causing the crisis in affordable housing, who’s most affected, and what both public- and private-sector leaders can do to effect fast but lasting change.

Articles mentioned: 

The State of Aviation 2025

Global Private Markets Report 2025: Braced for shifting weather

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Leaders worldwide are moving fast to deploy AI at scale. But scaling AI means more data centers—and data centers consume vast quantities of energy. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Jesse Noffsinger and Pankaj Sachdeva speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what needs to happen to build new, bigger data centers quickly, as well as to sate their growing hunger for power.

Articles mentioned: 

A generational shift: The future of foreign aid

Risk rebalancing: Five important geopolitical-risk questions for CIOs

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M&A activity is down, as is private equity investment, and companies are facing a range of new geopolitical tensions. Still, there is a path to growth through M&A for those companies that maintain an active acquisition strategy, understand their capabilities, and avoid certain assets, says McKinsey Senior Partner Jake Henry. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, he and McKinsey Senior Partner Mieke Van Oostende join McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to discuss findings from McKinsey’s 2025 M&A report. They also discuss the importance of culture in M&A integrations.

In our second segment, McKinsey Senior Partner Dana Maor shares how CEOs can and should stay connected to their teams with Managing Editor of Podcasts, Laurel Moglen. (Starts at 15:58)

Articles mentioned: 

The cost of compute: A $7 trillion race to scale data centers

In a moment of tariffs, can the world find balance and trust to thrive?

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People are asked to update the operating systems on their phones all the time. What if leaders applied that same kind of polishing and bug fixing to themselves? McKinsey research shows that executives who periodically review and revise their priorities, roles, time, and energy tend to be more productive, work more consciously, and drive change more effectively. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Senior Partner Arne Gast joins McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to discuss how leaders can tune up their own personal operating models.

Articles mentioned:

America at 250

In a moment of tariffs, can the world find balance and trust to thrive?

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Quantum computing has long been technology’s white whale. But in recent months, new developments suggest practical applications for this elusive technology could finally be within reach. “Quantum has been five to ten years away from fruition for many, many decades,” says McKinsey Partner Michael Bogobowicz. “Now it feels three to five years away.” In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Bogobowicz joins McKinsey Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss how quantum differs from conventional computing, what its potential use cases are likely to be, and how to prepare for the highs and lows of a world that could move exponentially faster than it does today. 

In our second segment we ask, what’s the most important factor in having a successful transformation? McKinsey Senior Partner Michael Bucy says it’s the CEO.  

Articles mentioned:

Navigating tariffs with a geopolitical nerve center

The Global Trade Explorer

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