Our top ten insights of 2019

The ten most popular McKinsey.com pieces of the last year, taken from the hundreds of articles, reports, blog posts, and podcasts that we published in 2019, reflect the hopes and anxieties of business leaders in every sector: hope for a better meeting, a better mindset, a more agile organization; anxiety over the future of work in America, globalization, the energy transition, blockchain, and more.

Read on for the full list and stay tuned for 2020.

1. Want a better decision? Plan a better meeting

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 1
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 1

How can senior managers get better, faster business decisions from meetings? Here are the three questions they should ask with every calendar invitation.

2. Blockchain’s Occam problem

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 2
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 2

Where is blockchain headed? This piece offers a hard-nosed look at the blockchain ecosystem as doubts have emerged about the technology’s true potential.

3. Globalization in transition: The future of trade and value chains

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number3
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number3

Debates about tariffs have obscured how globalization has changed. Trade intensity is down, and the flow of services and data play a more important role that isn’t fully captured by how we measure economic growth.

4. The future of work in America: People and places, today and tomorrow

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 4
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 4

McKinsey Global Institute’s blockbuster report looks at who will be most affected by emerging workforce shifts and how policymakers can choose to create more inclusive growth.

5. The mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 5
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 5

A guide to how the best CEOs think and act, based on our proprietary performance database and decades of firsthand experience counseling thousands of CEOs.

6. The journey to an agile organization

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 6
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 6

Navigating an organization to an agile operating model isn’t easy. This guide describes every element of the transformation that needs to occur.

7. How to master the seven-step problem-solving process

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 7
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 7

This podcast interview explores how leaders can apply structured problem solving to work through the most complex questions we face in any sector.

8. Global Energy Perspective 2019

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 8
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 8

What exactly is the energy transition, and what will it look like in the coming decades? This is an essential piece about a sector that’s changing rapidly and how those changes will transform many aspects of our lives.

9. What executives are reading in 2019

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 9
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 9

On top of everything else they do, Meg Whitman, Doug McMillon, Salman Khan, and other CEOs share what they’re reading for pleasure and self-improvement.

10. The platform play: How to operate like a tech company

Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 10
Top ten Insights of 2019 - Number 10

Any company can operate like a tech company – if its IT department can become an enabler and driver of continuous innovation and adaptation.

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