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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

  • Download list of selected publications by James Manyika (PDF – 80 KB)
  • Past experience

    Oxford University Engineering faculty
    Balliol College, Oxford University Research fellow
    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Visiting scientist
    MIT Faculty exchange fellow

    Education

    Oxford University DPhil, MSc and MA degrees in electrical engineering, mathematics and computer science
    University of Zimbabwe BSc in electrical engineering (first class)

    San Francisco Office

    555 California Street Suite 4700 San Francisco, CA 94104 United States
    Voice: 1 (415) 981 0250
    Fax: 1 (415) 318 5200
    videoJames Manyika talks about job creation

    The global job crisis

    James Manyika and other McKinsey experts discuss the underlying causes of the jobs crisis and some of the ways business and government can cooperate to create the millions of jobs that are needed.more

    videoJames Manyika - video

    Disrupting the global economy

    MGI director James Manyika discusses how information changes the way we live and work.more