This year on The McKinsey Podcast, we’ve dived into an array of topics on leadership, organizational change, and technological innovation, talking to McKinsey’s most seasoned experts about how to lead during times of geopolitical upheaval and economic uncertainty, as well as how to harness and then radiate the advances made possible by AI. We didn’t just go for the broad strokes. We heard from McKinsey partners about the questions they’re getting every day from their clients across industries. How can leaders move forward competitively in a business climate so full of flux and opportunity? Our guests this year had plenty of ideas.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.
2025 in review
Roberta Fusaro: Hey, everyone. As we go into the holiday break, let’s look at key moments of 2025.
Lucia Rahilly: While business leaders adapt to rapid changes in technology, shifts in trade have their attention too. It can make leaders tentative. Senior Partner Shubham Singhal says they must fight inertia.
Shubham Singhal: We often hear and see that a lot of companies are frozen. In essence, the age of strategy is back. There’s so much uncertainty. There’s so much that is shifting on advantage and demand patterns. So when we look at leaders across industries, there are three things that they’re doing strategically. I simplify it sometimes and just say: protect, prepare, and propel.
In essence, the age of strategy is back.
Roberta Fusaro: And while companies focus on strategy, McKinsey Senior Partner Shelley Stewart says they should be sure to include the chief marketing officer [CMO] in their strategic planning, to ensure that they always stay close to what matters most: the customer.
Shelley Stewart III: Only 50 percent of CMOs are involved in strategic planning alongside the CEO. That’s a startling statistic in a world where I think of the CMO as being someone who really does understand the customer journey. And so that lack of alignment really creates issues.
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Lucia Rahilly: Senior Partner Jake Henry agrees with Shubham and Shelley and adds that any healthy strategy also takes into account potential mergers and acquisitions.
Jake Henry: No strategy is complete without a consideration of M&A activity. Growth is harder and harder to access right now. That could be due to geopolitical uncertainties in terms of geographies that are underperforming. It could be exposures they have because of the geopolitical environment and form of pricing and otherwise. As these companies look at their growth board, they see holes. M&A can be a path to filling those gaps and add additional pathways to achieving. It can also be a way to access capabilities that are required for growth.
Roberta Fusaro: Geopolitics is affecting businesses across industries including banking. Senior Partner Pradip Patiath says the only way to seize the moment is to take on these challenges directly.
Pradip Patiath: Banks that ignore the macro environment, the geopolitical environment, the risks that come with it, the opportunities that come with it, do so at their own peril. And this could be a local bank, it could be a global bank, it doesn’t matter. I think this is something that should be on the agenda for nearly every bank because lots of things appear to be in motion, in flux, in change, and these will create great opportunities as well as get great risks.
Lucia Rahilly: No surprise, AI is one of those great opportunities. McKinsey Senior Partner Lareina Yee says it’s time to start acting on AI agents.
Lareina Yee: This idea that you could have a digital coworker isn’t a science fiction fantasy. It’s something that you can apply now. We’re not talking about software deployment, we’re talking about actually bringing something—an agent—into the workflow. So it’s really more like human capital deployment. If you have an agent or a team of agents, you have to do all the technical pieces of it to get it ready to enter the workforce, but then you need to onboard it, train it, and give it feedback, just like you would any new hire. Then you have to figure out how to teach it. What are the ways of working, what are the norms, how should it exist within your team. In some ways, it’s a transition from using it as a tool to it becoming a full team member. We’re just seeing the beginning scratches of this.
Roberta Fusaro: Of course, we can’t use AI on our teams if we don’t generate enough power for it. McKinsey Partner Jesse Noffsinger says data centers must adapt to meet consumer demand.
Jesse Noffsinger: It’s not just about delivering the power, but as we go upstream, it’s about generating the electricity. Even as the world’s consumption increases, we expect the number of data centers to be much higher. And in places like the US where we haven’t seen a lot of net load growth in a while, the expansion of data centers is actually driving almost entirely the upside that we see over the next few years.
Lucia Rahilly: And who is making the decisions behind building this AI-powered world? Leaders. Senior Partner Daniel Pacthod tells us why it’s so important to invest in leadership development.
Daniel Pacthod: I think the best CEOs today give people field promotions. I felt I got a lot of these where I was perhaps not ready to play the role, but then people grow into the role and rise to the occasion, and I think that’s a bit of this mindset needed to create a high performing and 21st-century leadership team.
Roberta Fusaro: McKinsey Senior Partner Carolyn Dewar notices this beginner’s mindset in some of the most successful leaders.
Carolyn Dewar: I was surprised by the learning mindset and the curiosity I encountered. You would expect, especially these folks who’ve been successful for so long, would show up very much with the answers, they had just mastered their craft, and were just on repeat, and that’s not what we found at all. Continual humility, openness to feedback, willingness to learn and challenge their own thinking was striking.
Lucia Rahilly: McKinsey Senior Partner Daniel Swan says companies must integrate qualities like these to adapt and stay competitive. And the chief operating officer is pivotal in taking the lead.
Daniel Swan: Be curious, think about what we could do better, and don’t be defensive about how we’ve always done things—this is critically important. I think the COO often sets the tone on that, and it’s so powerful for unlocking not only productivity but ideas that can drive growth, that can drive service, that can drive anything else. And so if I could impart one thing, it would be to get that curiosity mindset, along with continuous improvement, embedded in the organization.
Be curious, think about what we could do better, and don’t be defensive about how we’ve always done things.
Roberta Fusaro: Let’s hear it for curiosity as we head into the new year.
Lucia Rahilly: Ditto. Happy holidays to you. We’ll see you in 2026.
