Transforming Europe’s future, unlocking economic growth in Latin America, and more

CURATED PICKS FOR YOUR DOWNTIME, FROM OUR EDITORS

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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 The Weekend Read. We hope you find our perspectives useful. Let us know what you think at Alex_Panas@McKinsey.com and Becca_Coggins@McKinsey.com.

—Alex and Becca

As this year’s WEF Annual Meeting in Davos comes to a close, catch up with our newest insights on the meeting’s priority themes, including perspectives on Europe’s competitiveness and investment gap, unlocking economic growth in Latin America with AI, the importance of brain health, and more. And be sure to join Senior Partners Becca Coggins and Shelley Stewart on January 28 for a dynamic debrief on the conversations that stood out at Davos 2026. Register here.

Kim Baroudy, Solveigh Hieronimus, Sylvain Johansson, Tunde Olanrewaju, and coauthors discuss how companies can help drive a European economic renaissance—supported by more strategic collaboration with the public sector to shape the investment environment.

Move forward with purpose

Hi-tech globe with a focus on Central and South America

AI could help boost growth in Latin America by addressing a long-standing productivity gap—one the region has historically offset through workforce expansion, according to Francisco Ortega, Philipp Haugwitz, and Tracy Francis.

Unlock productivity-led growth

An image linking to the web page “The continuing evolution of the Global Lighthouse Network”

The Global Lighthouse Network, a World Economic Forum initiative cofounded with McKinsey, examines the future of operations and considers how Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies are shaping production. By prioritizing vertical, domain-specific applications, the 2025 Lighthouses overcome the “gen AI paradox,” translating experimentation into tangible performance gains, write Ruth Heuss and coauthors.

Scale change

A polyptych with professional head-and-shoulders portraits of Lucy Pérez, Kana Enomoto, Jacqueline Brassey, and Erica Coe arranged side by side against a light blue background. Each woman is facing the camera and smiling, wearing business or business-casual attire, giving the overall impression of a polished, corporate-style team photo.

Economic growth increasingly depends on brain health and brain skills: our ability to think clearly, adapt to change, collaborate effectively, and make sound judgments in complex environments. In this video Explainer, Erica Coe, Kana Enomoto, Lucy Pérez, and Jacqueline Brassey explore what the brain economy is—and why it matters so much now.

Invest in brain health

ALSO NEW

Leading by example: How Aditya Puri took HDFC Bank to the top

Aditya Puri, retired founder-CEO of HDFC Bank, discusses his “first among equals” leadership style that helped him get HDFC to be the largest private sector bank in India.

Walk the talk

Capturing the $7 billion value in US and Canadian natural gas trading

Natural gas demand is set to rise in the United States and Canada, adding to volatility. Companies that strengthen their infrastructure, technology, and trading can lead in the decade ahead.

Capture the opportunity

An image linking to the web page “A Century of Plenty”

Join us for a McKinsey virtual event on A Century of Plenty

On January 28, join Chris Bradley, Nick Leung, Sven Smit, Janet Bush, and Marc Canal—authors of A Century of Plenty: A Story of Progress for Generations to Come—who will look back at the past 100 years of unprecedented human and economic progress and talk about how, for all current uncertainties, we can pull it off again—or do even better.

Register now

—Edited by Joyce Yoo, editor, New York

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Kim Baroudy, Solveigh Hieronimus, Sylvain Johansson, Tunde Olanrewaju, and coauthors discuss how companies can help drive a European economic renaissance—supported by more strategic collaboration with the public sector to shape the investment environment.﻿﻿﻿

AI could help boost growth in Latin America by addressing a long-standing productivity gap—one the region has historically offset through workforce expansion, according to Francisco Ortega, Philipp Haugwitz, and Tracy Francis.﻿

﻿Leading by example: How Aditya Puri took HDFC Bank to the top﻿

﻿Capturing the $7 billion value in US and Canadian natural gas trading﻿

Join us for a McKinsey virtual event on A Century of Plenty

Kim Baroudy, Solveigh Hieronimus, Sylvain Johansson, Tunde Olanrewaju, and coauthors discuss how companies can help drive a European economic renaissance—supported by more strategic collaboration with the public sector to shape the investment environment.

AI could help boost growth in Latin America by addressing a long-standing productivity gap—one the region has historically offset through workforce expansion, according to Francisco Ortega, Philipp Haugwitz, and Tracy Francis.

Leading by example: How Aditya Puri took HDFC Bank to the top

Capturing the $7 billion value in US and Canadian natural gas trading