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. In this issue, we offer two ideas on AI: a set of decision-making principles and a guide to creating a genuine advantage. We appreciate the opportunity to connect and hope you find our perspectives useful and thought provoking. You can reach us at Alex_Panas@McKinsey.com and Becca_Coggins@McKinsey.com. Thank you, as ever.

—Alex and Becca

Principles for the AI moment. AI is everywhere—in the C-suite, the boardroom, the shop floor, the kitchen table. As the technology redefines the way business is done and organized, leaders will need a set of principles to guide decision-making—words to live by as each day brings unexpected chances and unpredictable risks. Here’s ours.

Building a competitive advantage. Nearly nine in ten organizations now use AI. But most are using the same large language models (LLMs) to improve productivity. If everyone has the same advantage, it stops being an advantage. At its core, as we explained earlier this year, competitive advantage derives from unique operating models and hard-to-replicate assets that enable a company to build superior value over time, such as intellectual property and customer access. Used strategically, AI can create these kinds of true advantages, as our new research explains.

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

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