ESSENTIALS FOR LEADERS AND THOSE THEY LEAD

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

An IDEA

Take the long view

The disruptions of recent years aren’t fading. They’re fundamentally reshaping how companies operate and grow—and executives should take a long-term view of their impact. McKinsey’s The State of Organizations 2026 report draws on a global survey of more than 10,000 business leaders to identify three “tectonic” forces that will shape corporate transformations:

McKinsey’s Alexis Krivkovich, Damian Klingler, Dana Maor, Michael Anzenhofer, and Patrick Guggenberger observe that leaders can address these forces by fostering collaboration between humans and AI agents, staying nimble while navigating geopolitical changes, and investing in people and operational excellence, among other steps. “They need to ensure sustained performance and long-term resilience, including a flexible operating model and the capability to build for the future,” the authors say. To learn more, register here for McKinsey webinars with industry leaders on Monday, March 9, and Thursday, March 12.

A BIG NUMBER

12

That’s the number of elements involved in McKinsey’s new “Organize to Value” system for operating model design. These elements—which include purpose, talent, leadership, and rewards—can be tailored to a company’s particular circumstances and goals, according to McKinsey’s Alexis Krivkovich, Amadeo Di Lodovico, Brooke Weddle, Dana Maor, Deepak Mahadevan, and Richard Steele. “Viewing the elements as a holistic system can help leaders meet strategic goals and bolster performance in a complex business environment,” they say.

A QUOTE

“In the agentic era, how organizations are built and operate will evolve as much as the products or services they deliver.”

That’s McKinsey’s Alexander Sukharevsky, Alexis Krivkovich, Arne Gast, Arsen Storozhev, Dana Maor, Deepak Mahadevan, Lari Hämäläinen, and Sandra Durth on how agentic AI technology will reshape companies’ futures. They outline agentic AI’s potential impact across five organizational pillars: business model; operating model; governance; workforce, people, and culture; and technology and data. Future operating models will be anchored around AI-first workflows, they predict, and organizational structures will pivot to small, outcome-focused agentic teams instead of traditional functional silos.

A SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

Having a growth mindset is critical for leaders, but that alone won’t translate into impact. In an episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Greg Kelly and Jill Zucker say companies should treat growth initiatives with the same data-driven discipline they apply to cost control efforts. It’s also important to be bold and build a strong team to support growth opportunities, even in the early stages. “To take a high-performing leader out of a current, bigger area that maybe doesn’t have as much growth, and then have that leader go into a new area that has the promise of growth—that takes real courage,” Kelly says. Zucker adds that tone matters: When leaders make clear that innovation is a shared responsibility, teams can turn aspiration into performance. “If you’re an organization where it’s OK to give a warning light when things aren’t going well, and to ask for advice from colleagues and others on the management team, you can solve things together,” she says.

— Edited by Eric Quiñones, senior editor, New Jersey

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