Monthly Highlights, September 2025

Monthly Highlights, Sept 2025

With two-thirds of global companies now using gen AI, the technology could usher in an era of tremendous growth. But handing people new tools doesn’t guarantee effective use, nor does it profoundly change how a company operates. To capture the full value, CEOs could deploy a novel change management approach that empowers employees to shift from gen AI experimenters to gen AI accelerators. In our featured article, McKinsey’s Erik Roth outlines five steps that CEOs can use to steer their companies through these uncharted waters. Our second feature zooms in on the financial sector, exploring how institutions can implement agentic AI to fight financial crime. Other highlights include the following topics:

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six common pitfalls that transformations face

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unlocking rural America’s potential

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how chief information security officers and boards can work together to grow and protect their organizations

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what data center stakeholders can do to keep up with digital transformation demands

Editor’s choice

Reconfiguring work: Change management in the age of gen AI

Piloting gen AI is easy, but creating value is hard. That requires empowering employees to cocreate gen AI products against a North Star that redefines ways of working.

Empower your teams to co-create with AI

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How agentic AI can change the way banks fight financial crime

Financial institutions are allocating significant resources to fighting financial crime, but they are generally making little progress. AI-based solutions may be an accelerator.

The next major innovation lever

THIS MONTH’s HIGHLIGHTS

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How to get your operating model transformation back on track

“All that work, and what did it get us?” Leaders feel frustrated when transformations fall short, but they can achieve their goals by avoiding six common pitfalls.
Stay on track

Small towns, massive opportunity: Unlocking rural America’s potential

Six strategies could catalyze growth and improve the well-being and economic mobility of rural residents across the country.
Unlock the full potential

The sun is setting on workers in glass-walled boardroom

Competitive advantage through cybersecurity: A board-level perspective

Five leading cybersecurity executives and public company directors discuss how chief information security officers and boards can work together to grow and protect their organizations.
Empower your board

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Scaling bigger, faster, cheaper data centers with smarter designs

Powering AI and new computation technologies can accelerate data center project delivery and optimize spending to reduce the projected $1.7 trillion global spend through 2030 by up to $250 billion.
Make a long-term bet

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Worst to first: What it takes to build or remake a world-class team

The winningest coaches, athletic directors, and administrators follow a few core principles to set uncompromising standards and build elite organizations. Here’s how C-suite leaders can do the same.
Set a new standard

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Closing the monetization gap in women’s sports: A $2.5 billion opportunity

US women’s sports have passed an inflection point and are poised for future growth, but stakeholders will need to overcome multiple challenges to deliver their full economic potential.
Fandom, viewership, and more

ALSO New

The data center balance: How US states can navigate the opportunities and challenges

Closing the Black maternal-health gap: Healthier lives, stronger economies

Digital-led with a human touch: The next era in small-business banking

The end of inertia: Agentic AI’s disruption of retail and SME banking

Rich in resilience: Dealmakers deliver strong first-half results in M&A

Putting the pieces together: Unlocking success in modular construction

Workday’s CEO on driving growth and transformation in the age of AI

General Motors’ Norm de Greve on aligning marketing across the C-suite

The ‘octopus CIO’: Strategic technology leadership at Harvard

Mind the gap: How operations leaders are pulling ahead using AI

The case for a clear ROI framework for state transportation projects

Risk transfer: A growing strategic imperative for banks

The speed-to-market imperative for life sciences capital delivery

Mapping the US affordable housing crisis and unlocking opportunities for economic mobility

out now

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McKinsey Quarterly: Our future on the planet

The last of our special 60th birthday issues tackles complexities of the energy transition, with stories looking at how companies can mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Meet the challenge 

Special features

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McKinsey Explainers

Find direct answers to complex questions, backed by McKinsey’s expert insights.
Learn more

McKinsey Themes

Browse our essential reading on the topics that matter.
Get up to speed

McKinsey on Lives & Legacies

Monthly obituaries from business and society, highlighting the lasting legacies of executives and leaders from around the globe.
Explore the latest obituaries

Mind the Gap

Biweekly curated reads on Gen Z in the workplace.
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McKinsey Classics

For many companies, water efficiency is a long-term requirement for staying in business, a big commercial opportunity, or both. Read our 2009 classic “The business opportunity in water conservation” to learn more.
Rewind

Only McKinsey Perspectives

Delivering actionable insights on the day’s news, as only McKinsey can .
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—Edited by Esther Chung, editor, Atlanta

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