McKinsey Global Institute

About James

Dr. James Manyika is a Director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the Firm’s business and economics research think tank. James is also a Director (Senior Partner) at McKinsey & Company where he is one of the leaders of McKinsey’s Global High Tech, Media and Telecom Practice. Based in Silicon Valley, for the last 18 years he has worked with many of the world’s leading software, systems, internet, media, and communications companies on a variety of issues, including strategy, innovation and business transformation. James serves on the McKinsey’s global committee that reviews and elects directors (senior partners) of the Firm.

James has led research on business strategy issues as well as topics related to the global economy including, innovation, and competitiveness, productivity and jobs, and technology and its impact on business and the economy. Recent topics have included the economic impact of the Internet in developed and developing countries, big data, social media, US growth and renewal, the future of manufacturing. Much of this work has appeared in journals, books and the op-ed pages of newspapers and business publications around the world and he has spoken and participated at various global technology, business and policy forums. He has published a book on distributed networks and decision theory and numerous academic and business papers and reports.

In January 2013 he was one of 9 individuals appointed by President Obama to serve on the President’s Global Development Council. In 2011, James was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve on a 15-member national Innovation Advisory Board.  James also serves on the boards of the Aspen Institute, the Oxford Internet Institute, UC Berkeley’s School of Information (iSchool), Harvard’s Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the American University in Cairo, the World Affairs Council, and Techonomy. James is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Prior to McKinsey, James was on the Engineering Faculty at Oxford University and a Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford University, a Visiting Scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a Faculty Exchange Fellow at MIT. A Rhodes Scholar, James has served on the California Rhodes selection committee, and he is involved with several innovation, philanthropy, arts organizations and forums. Born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe, James lives in San Francisco.

Selected published work

“Breaking the US growth impasse,” McKinsey Quarterly, August 2013

“Measuring the full impact of digital capital,” McKinsey Quarterly, July 2013

“Game changers: Five opportunities for US growth and renewal,” McKinsey Global Institute, July 2013

“Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy,” McKinsey Global Institute, May 2013

“Manufacturing the future: The next era of global growth and innovation,” McKinsey Quarterly, November 2012

“Preparing for a new era of work,” McKinsey Quarterly, November 2012

“Capturing business value with social technologies,” McKinsey Quarterly, November 2012

“Debt and deleveraging: Uneven progress on the path to growth,” McKinsey Global Institute, January 2012

“A great transformer,” The Financial Times Connected Business, November 2011

“An economy that works: Job creation and America's future,” McKinsey Global Institute, June 2011

“Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity,” McKinsey Global Institute, May 2011

“Productivity and growth: The enduring connection,” The Wall Street Journal, February 16, 2011

“Growth and renewal in the United States: Retooling America's economic engine,” McKinsey Global Institute, February 2011

Past experience

Education