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Leading in the 21st century

Leading in the 21st century

In today’s volatile environment, leaders of global organizations must master a slate of challenges unseen in business history. In this feature, McKinsey talks with seven leaders and Wharton professor Michael Useem about the new fundamentals of leading in the 21st century.

Michael Useem

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Michael Useem

Professor, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Useem is the director of Wharton's Center for Leadership and Change Management.more

Interviews with leaders

  • Larry Fink

    Larry Fink

    Chairman and CEO, BlackRock

    Fink cofounded BlackRock in 1988. He built it into an asset-management firm with $3.5 trillion under management—and a powerful voice on behalf of savers.more

  • Carlos Ghosn

    Carlos Ghosn

    Chairman and CEO, Nissan, Renault SA, Renault-Nissan Alliance

    Named CEO of Nissan in 2001, Ghosn has turned Nissan into one of the world’s most profitable automakers and has expanded aggressively into emerging markets and zero-emission vehicles.more

  • Moya Greene

    Moya Greene

    CEO, Royal Mail

    Greene is the first woman and first non-Briton to head Royal Mail, the United Kingdom's state-owned postal service. She is leading a major overhaul of Royal Mail's business model ahead of its expected privatization.more

  • Chandra Kochar

    Chanda Kochhar

    Managing director and CEO, ICICI Bank

    The managing director and CEO of India’s second-largest bank explains how she balances the local and the global.more

  • Ellen Kullman

    Ellen Kullman

    CEO, DuPont

    As CEO, Kullman is leading the reinvention of DuPont from an American chemicals conglomerate to a global science company.more

  • Shimon Peres

    Shimon Peres

    President of Israel

    Shimon Peres is the ninth and current president of Israel, elected in 2007. One of the defining figures of that country, he shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.more

  • Daniel Vasella

    Daniel Vasella

    Chairman, Novartis

    Childhood illness, family misfortune, and an early career as a physician influenced Vasella’s outlook as CEO of Novartis, which he built into one of the world’s largest drug companies.more