Two McKinsey partners on rewiring talent for the AI era

The second edition of Rewired offers a practical blueprint for organizations with bold ambitions to unlock value from tech transformations. This series explores the six core capabilities of the Rewired recipe and the people who bring them to life.

The second edition of Rewired makes one thing clear: The defining factor in successful tech transformations isn’t artificial—it’s human. Scaling AI isn’t just about better models, platforms, or tools; it requires a fundamental shift in how organizations develop and deploy talent at scale—from who builds technology to how everyone uses it.

We spoke with two McKinsey leaders about what that looks like in practice.

Sandra Durth on building advantage, not just productivity, with AI

“The last Rewired book focused on tech talent,” says Sandra Durth, a McKinsey partner based in Cologne. “Which is important, but today’s leaders need to go further: Every employee must become a technology-enabled problem solver.”

That shift reflects a broader change in how organizations are approaching AI. “There are organizations that give people technology tools,” Sandra says, “and there are organizations that fundamentally reinvent how work gets done. That difference shows up in performance.”

With a background spanning financial services and not for profits, Sandra now works at the intersection of technology and people transformation, helping companies move from pilots to enterprise-wide adoption—and from incremental gains to step-change performance. “I’ve always swung between head and heart,” she says. “I wanted to change the world, but in a structured, effective way. At McKinsey, I found that middle ground.”

That mindset continues to shape how she approaches her work. “What excites me is helping organizations decide what future they want to shape—and making it real for their people,” she says. “Right now, there’s a real paradox: No one knows how fast technology will evolve, but you can’t wait. So the question is: Are you using AI to unlock short-term productivity—or to build durable competitive advantage?”

True transformation depends on more than just tools. Leading companies are systematically building AI fluency across the enterprise, investing in large-scale upskilling and redeployment, and redesigning roles around value creation. They are compressing learning cycles, embedding capability building into daily work, and operating as continuous learning systems. Just as critically, they articulate a clear change narrative—so employees understand not only what is changing but why it matters for the business and their own growth.

“People are navigating the tension of doing more meaningful work faster than ever while living in a world of real uncertainty,” says Sandra. “Against that backdrop, making space becomes essential. It’s what allows you to step back in a world that never stops and ask: Am I reacting, or am I shaping the future I want?”

Suman Thareja on breaking silos through shared learning

For Suman Thareja, a McKinsey partner based in New York, the second edition of Rewired focuses on AI’s impact on skills and learning.

“A typical learning journey doesn’t cut it anymore,” she says. “Learning has to happen in the flow of work—cross-functional, hands on, and together.”

Too often, executives continue to build depth of expertise within their own silos. But transformation requires leadership teams that learn as one—sharing context, aligning quickly, and modeling new ways of working. “Leaders can’t stay in their own bubbles,” Suman says. “They need a shared view across technology, people, and the business to make faster, better decisions—and stay aligned on value.”

In practice, that means moving beyond stand-alone training and embedding learning into day-to-day work through real-time application, coaching, and continuous iteration.

That philosophy of continuous learning is reflected in Suman’s own path. She started as a developer in McKinsey’s IT organization before moving into client service, where she helped scale digital transformations during a period of rapid adoption. “The move into client service felt natural,” she says, “because I had experienced the work from multiple angles—developer, agile coach, project manager, and product manager.”

Today, she leads McKinsey’s talent work in tech and AI, helping organizations move from isolated high-performing teams to enterprise-wide performance. In one recent engagement, her team helped a global organization shift from a role-based to a skills-based model, redesigning career paths, embedding skills-based performance management, and building workforce plans to guide hiring, reskilling, and redeployment. With visibility into more than 2,000 critical roles and skill levels, the company gained a clearer view of talent gaps—and a more dynamic way to match talent to strategy.

But even the best-designed models will fall short without one critical element: people.

“Employees experience change differently: Some are energized, some skeptical, and some resistant,” Suman says. “You have to listen, overcommunicate, and make the value clear. Ultimately, that’s the linchpin of whether a rewiring journey succeeds.”