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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 Only McKinsey Perspectives. 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
In the news. Corporate IT leaders are working with their peers in HR to manage the workplace disruptions wrought by AI, The Wall Street Journal reports. As AI stokes workplace anxiety, tech and HR executives are collaborating to redesign jobs, train employees, and integrate AI agents as “digital coworkers” that are meant to augment, rather than replace, the work that humans do. Their efforts focus on managing cultural change, clarifying expectations, and balancing productivity gains with reskilling, morale building, and long-term workforce stability. [WSJ]
On McKinsey.com. Work of the future will be a partnership between people, AI agents, and machines, as AI continues to transform how work happens—and by whom. According to McKinsey’s Anu Madgavkar, Sven Smit, Alexis Krivkovich, Michael Chui, and coauthors, the technology could automate many work hours. But these changes will unfold gradually, with AI reshaping roles and tasks rather than eliminating them. Their research analyzed nearly 7,000 in-demand skills and found that most human capabilities will remain essential but be applied differently. Learn more about how humans and agents will work together in the age of AI.See how skills will evolve
In the news. The ability to make good decisions not only affects a leader’s effectiveness on the job; it can define their entire legacy. According to Fast Company, leaders can become effective decision-makers by grounding their choices in self-awareness and applying “the three Cs”: competence, courage, and compassion. Competence means translating a leader’s insights into action, while courage enables leaders to challenge assumptions and make uncomfortable calls, and compassion accounts for the human realities that affect how decisions are made and implemented. [Fast Company]On McKinsey.com. Leaders don’t deliver true transformations by inspiring alone; they do so by reinforcing the behavioral shifts that drive results. McKinsey’s Aaron De Smet, Arne Gast, and Rajesh Krishnan argue that while many leaders emphasize collaboration and purpose, lasting performance improvements come from moves that are harder to implement: for example, building a clear performance edge, sharpening decision-making, and prioritizing accountability, which only 10% of the transformations they analyzed did. There are five actions leaders can consider for implementing the behavioral shifts that are most important for their organizations, including a focus on the most critical teams and redesigning performance routines and culture.Balance inspiration and accountability
In the news. Most organizations are asking the wrong questions about gen AI, according to Harvard Business Review. Rather than fixating on how smart AI is, business leaders should focus on where and how their companies can use it to build competitive advantage. To help leaders decide which tasks to automate, augment, or keep human, potential use cases should be evaluated based on the cost of errors and the type of judgment required. Gen-AI-generated value already exists, but leaders must actively and strategically reimagine their companies’ access to technology, use of data, and organizational design to capture it. [HBR]On McKinsey.com. The real advantage from AI comes from leaders who turn actual business problems into AI-driven change—not from the tools themselves. Senior Partners Dana Maor, Eric Lamarre, and Kate Smaje say that the best companies are building a strong bench of leaders who can reimagine end-to-end processes with AI, set clear road maps for AI-enabled transformation, work closely with technologists, and are personally accountable for results. While there’s a shortage of domain owners with strong tech skills, being AI-savvy—and knowing how to get the most value from it—is an increasingly critical leadership capability.Build your business leaders’ AI muscles
—Edited by Larry Kanter, senior editor, New York
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