OUR BEST IDEAS FOR THE C-SUITE

Welcome to the latest edition of the CEO Shortlist, a biweekly newsletter of our best ideas for the C-suite. This week, we’re sharing insights from our 2025 Technology Trends Outlook, as well as thoughts on nontariff barriers to trade and what public boards can borrow from private equity. We appreciate the opportunity to connect and hope you find our perspectives novel and insightful. You can reach us at Alex_Panas@McKinsey.com and Axel_Karlsson@McKinsey.com. Thank you, as ever.

—Alex and Axel

Public boards can take a page from private equity to create value. Tactics most often associated with private equity (PE) boards can be artfully deployed by public-company boards as well. By adopting seven PE practices outlined in a recent article, public boards could shift from regulatory box checking to meaningful value creation.

AI is front and center—but it’s sharing the stage. The latest edition of McKinsey’s annual Technology Trends Outlook highlights agentic AI—autonomous agents that handle complex tasks with minimal input—as a fast-rising capability. At the same time, foundational technologies like semiconductors and quantum computing are evolving rapidly, setting the stage for what’s to come. The takeaway: Disruption is accelerating, and leaders will need fluency in both frontier innovations and the infrastructure that supports them.

It’s not just tariffs. While leaders worldwide are digesting the recent announcements about new tariffs, we recommend they also keep an eye on changes in export and investment controls. Both policy tools can be highly influential in determining trade flows. Our collection page on tariffs and trade features these stories and much more.

We hope you find these ideas helpful. See you in a couple weeks with more McKinsey ideas for the CEO and others in the C-suite.

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