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CEO insights

McKinsey’s latest thinking to equip CEOs with insights to set the direction, align the organization, mobilize through leaders, engage the Board, connect with stakeholders, and manage personal effectiveness.

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Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Stepping up: Becoming a high-potential CEO candidate
– The road to becoming CEO is a difficult ascent for even the most seasoned leaders. Here are four keys to making the journey a success.
Interactive - McKinsey Quarterly

Mindsets for success: Lessons from top CEOs
– During times of change, successful bosses adapt and exhibit service-minded leadership. Leaders at all levels should take note.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal
– The best CEOs use the first six to 12 months of their tenure as a moment of great personal transition and institutional renewal. There are four keys to success.
Podcast

Leadership lessons from the world’s best CEOs
– The authors of the new book CEO Excellence, who interviewed dozens of the top-performing chief executives, share their most memorable encounters and stories.

Setting the Direction

Article

Innovation: Your solution for weathering uncertainty

– When the times get tough, the tough get innovative and create paths to future growth.
Article

Growth rules: Which matter most?
– Ten rules should guide how companies select pathways to profitable growth, but each rule’s impact on performance varies considerably.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

The power of goodbye: How carve-outs can unleash value
– Separations can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create value for the remaining and separated companies. The secret? Get... granular about support costs and personal about talent.
Article

2023, a testing year: Will the macro-scenario range widen or narrow?
– Will the world move to solve its structural problems and make superior short-term choices? Yes or no: that’s the first question... on the test.
Article

Business building: The path to resilience in uncertain times
– In an uncertain economy, executives’ first instinct might be to cut costs and shore up established holdings. A better way is to... build new businesses.
Article

Designing out of difficult times
– Design matters—and not just in good times. CEOs who embrace design can enhance strategy and better navigate this age of... volatility.
Article - McKinsey Global Institute

Pixels of Progress: A granular look at human development around the world
– Our world is big and complex, but human progress is still about life on the ground, up close and in detail.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Strategic courage in an age of volatility
– Today’s challenging environment requires business leaders to hone their edge in three critical areas: insights, commitment, and... execution.
Article

Choosing to grow: The leader’s blueprint
– Driving sustainable, inclusive growth requires the right mindset, strategy, and capabilities. Here are some steps that could help... foster successful growth.

Organization and team

Article

Raising the resilience of your organization

– Repeatedly rebounding from disruption is tough, but some companies have a recipe for success: a systems mindset emphasizing agility, psychological safety, adaptable leadership, and cohesive culture.
Article

Reimagining people development to overcome talent challenges
– Organizations face a critical shortage of talent and skills. Investing in people can create a virtuous cycle that improves the... ability to attract, advance, and retain talent.
Report - McKinsey Global Institute

Performance through people: Transforming human capital into competitive advantage
– A dual focus on developing people and managing them well gives a select group of companies a long-term performance edge.
Article

Scaling up: How founder CEOs and teams can go beyond aspiration to ascent
– For many start-ups, the challenge is no longer about securing capital—it’s about learning how to restructure themselves... as fast as their products or organizations can evolve.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

The Great Attrition is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pools?
– People keep quitting at record levels, yet companies are still trying to attract and retain them the same old ways. New research... identifies five types of workers that employers can reach to fill jobs.
Article

A single approach to culture transformation may not fit all
– It can be hard for organizations with many independent business units to achieve cohesion among them and transform their culture.... Remember: it’s better to bend than break.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Hybrid work: Making it fit with your diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy
– New research details what empowered employees love about hybrid work models and the risks to diversity, equity, and inclusion... if managers get the evolving flexible workplace wrong.
Article

Redefining corporate functions to better support strategy and growth
– Striking the right balance between decentralized functions and centralized control starts with addressing the needs of business... units.
Survey

Losing from day one: Why even successful transformations fall short
– Our latest transformations research confirms that success remains elusive and reliant on a holistic approach. Yet some actions... are especially predictive of realizing the financial benefits at stake.

Engaging the Board

Article

Five ways to increase your board’s long-term impact

– Directors are spending more time on their work, yet few say their boards are better at creating long-term value. Survey data highlight the operating models that correlate most with value creation.
Podcast

The board’s role in building resilience
– Boards of directors can help executive teams build the foresight, response, and adaptation capabilities they need to manage future... shocks.
Issue

The Board Perspective - Number 3
– A collection of McKinsey insights focusing on boards of directors
Podcast

Boards, talent, and culture
– Boards need to ensure that management walks the talk on culture and values.
Executive Briefing

How boards can help digital transformations
– Boards can add value to their business’s digital transformation in five specific areas.
Article

The board’s role in embedding corporate purpose: Five actions directors can take today
– A large spotlight is shining on corporate actions these days, and all stakeholders have growing expectations. A board’s... involvement in defining purpose helps meet those expectations.
Issue

The Board Perspective - Number 2
– A collection of McKinsey insights focusing on boards of directors
Executive Briefing - McKinsey Quarterly

The CEO guide to boards
– Greater responsibilities require increased commitments of time and energy.
Issue

The Board Perspective - Number 1
– A collection of McKinsey insights focusing on boards of directors

Connecting with Stakeholders

Article

A devilish duality: How CEOs can square resilience with net-zero promises

– Amid turbulence on the path to net zero, leaders will have to be much nimbler to balance resilience with an energy future that is secure, affordable, and clean. Five actions can help.
Report

Nature in the balance: What companies can do to restore natural capital
– Specific corporate actions, many with a positive return on investment, could help reverse the trend of the depletion of natural... capital.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Does ESG really matter—and why?
– Although valid questions have been raised about ESG, the need for companies to understand and address their externalities is likely... to become essential to maintaining their social license.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

How to make ESG real
– While ESG is likely to evolve both in substance and name in the coming years, its underlying impulse is here to stay. Here’s... how companies can take a more systematic and rewarding approach to ESG.
Article

Resilience for sustainable, inclusive growth
– Resilience should be seen as the ability to deal with adversity, withstand shocks, and continuously adapt and accelerate as disruptions... and crises arise over time.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Playing offense to create value in the net-zero transition
– Decarbonization will reshape the economy, opening new markets and imperiling others. Now is the moment for companies to spot green... growth opportunities and move boldly to take advantage.
Article

The net-zero transition: What it would cost, what it could bring
– This McKinsey report offers a detailed look at the economic and societal impact of the transition to net-zero carbon emissions... by 2050.
Article

From principle to practice: Making stakeholder capitalism work
– Just as with other business priorities, stakeholder capitalism is a matter of execution. Here are five steps to get it right.
Survey

The pivotal factors for effective external engagement
– Survey results show that senior leaders have increasingly prioritized stakeholder engagement, which remains a challenge for many... companies. Certain capabilities distinguish companies that have met the challenge.

Managing Personal Effectiveness

Article

Into all problem-solving, a little dissent must fall

– In today’s interconnected business environment, companies won’t be able to solve problems effectively without encouraging “contributory dissent”—a healthy approach to gathering diverse perspectives that should be taught to team members, modeled by leaders, and supported by culture.
Book - Featured Insights

Deliberate Calm
How to learn and lead in a volatile world
Article

Future proof: Solving the ‘adaptability paradox’ for the long term
– Just when leaders need fresh thinking and decisiveness, they tend to fall back on tried-and-true ways. Five actions can transform... your relationship with uncertainty and help you thrive.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Purpose, not platitudes: A personal challenge for top executives
– To harness the power of corporate purpose, CEOs and other senior executives must pressure-test that purpose with their teams,... employees—and themselves.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships
– Businesses looking to make an external social contribution should, paradoxically, look inside: improving workers’ job satisfaction... could be the single most important thing they do.