Leading Off: A leader’s guide to human–agent partnerships at work

ESSENTIALS FOR LEADERS AND THOSE THEY LEAD

Click to get this newsletter twice per month

Brought to you by Alex Panas, global leader of industries, & Becca Coggins, global leader of functional practices and growth platforms

Welcome to the latest edition of Leading Off. We hope you find our insights useful. Let us know what you think at Alex_Panas@McKinsey.com and Becca_Coggins@McKinsey.com.

—Alex and Becca

Agentic AI ranks among the topics that captured the most attention among business leaders this year—and is sure to remain top of mind in 2026 and beyond. The rapid development of agentic capabilities represents a major milestone in AI’s evolution and could transform workflows, decision-making, and the workforce itself. This week, we look at how the collaboration between people, agents, and robots is evolving and which skills employees and leaders will need to succeed and create value in the era of agentic AI.

An IDEA

An image linking to the web page “Agents, robots, and us: Skill partnerships in the age of AI” on McKinsey.com.

Pair human skills with AI

As AI adoption continues to grow and change how we work, many of the human skills that employers value will likely endure—and also evolve. More than 70 percent of current skills can be applied in both automatable and non-automatable future work, according to McKinsey’s Lareina Yee, Anu Madgavkar, Sven Smit, Alexis Krivkovich, Michael Chui, and their coauthors. Their new McKinsey Global Institute report notes that nearly every occupation will experience skill shifts by 2030. Highly specialized, automatable skills such as accounting and coding could see the greatest changes, while interpersonal capabilities such as negotiating and coaching may be the least disrupted. “Most others, including widely applicable skills such as problem-solving and communication, may evolve as part of a growing partnership with agents and robots,” the authors say. The report projects that agents and robots could generate about $2.9 trillion in US economic value per year if business leaders focus on redesigning workflows—rather than individual tasks—to enable humans and machines to work better together. According to the authors, “the most effective [leaders] will engage directly with AI rather than delegating, invest in the human skills that matter most, and balance gains with responsibility, safety, and trust.”

A BIG NUMBER

62%

That’s the share of respondents who say their organizations are at least experimenting with AI agents, according to the newest McKinsey Global Survey on the state of AI. At the same time, Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky, Bryce Hall, Lareina Yee, and Michael Chui note that agentic AI use is not yet widespread. Most of the survey’s respondents say they are scaling agents in just one or two functions. In any given function, no more than 10 percent of respondents say their organizations are scaling agents.

A QUOTE

“In an agentic world, trust is not a feature. It must be the foundation.”

That’s McKinsey’s Benjamin Klein, Charlie Lewis, Rich Isenberg, and their coauthors on why technology leaders need to address emerging agentic AI risks so their companies can securely adopt the technology. The authors note that agents could introduce vulnerabilities that disrupt operations, compromise sensitive data, or erode customer trust. They advise tech leaders to update their risk and governance frameworks, establish mechanisms for oversight and awareness, and implement security controls as they deploy agentic AI.

A SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

An image linking to the web page “Becoming a tech-savvy leader” on McKinsey.com.

The rapid growth of AI and other technologies is putting pressure on all business leaders to become more tech savvy. For Neesha Hathi, managing director and head of Wealth & Advice Solutions at Charles Schwab, learning how tech tools work makes it easier to assess their potential business impact. For example, she says, “I am really intentional about using AI in my personal life, because you don’t necessarily know what it can do until you start to use it and understand how it can be applied, and then you begin to see how you can use it for all sorts of business problems.” Hathi, who is also Schwab’s former chief digital officer, stresses in an interview with McKinsey that having greater tech knowledge can help executives translate business opportunities to other leaders, from the C-suite to the board. “Your ability to bolster their confidence is so much greater if you’ve actually spent some time diving in and learning about the technology issues yourself,” she says.

ATTENTION, SHOPPERS

An image linking to the web page “The agentic commerce opportunity: How AI agents are ushering in a new era for consumers and merchants” on McKinsey.com.

For many shoppers, the holiday season is becoming a time for AI agents to browse the digital aisles on their behalf in search of the perfect gifts. AI is radically remaking the entire shopping experience, as agents become capable of anticipating consumer needs, navigating shopping options, negotiating deals, and completing transactions. McKinsey’s Katharina Schumacher and Roger Roberts say that agentic AI will erode traditional boundaries among platforms, services, and experiences to provide more personalized and efficient customer service. “All kinds of businesses—brands, retailers, marketplaces, logistics and commerce services providers, and payments players—will need to adapt to the new paradigm and successfully navigate the challenges of trust, risk, and innovation,” they say.

Lead by forging human–AI partnerships.

— Edited by Eric Quiñones, senior editor, New Jersey

Click to get this newsletter twice per month

Follow our thinking

McKinsey Insights - Get our latest thinking on your iPhone, iPad, or Android.

Share these insights

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to colleagues and friends so they can subscribe too. Was this issue forwarded to you? Sign up for it and sample our 40+ other free email subscriptions here.