How top CEOs are getting AI right, learning from disruptor brands, and more

CURATED PICKS FOR YOUR DOWNTIME, FROM OUR EDITORS

Click to get this newsletter once a week

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

Check out this week’s fresh perspectives on how CEOs are meeting the AI moment, what consumer-packaged-goods companies can learn from disruptor brands, the latest Five Fifty, and more.

Young man staring out floor to ceiling office window looking over city skyline

What are successful leaders doing to get AI right? In a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Senior Partner Eric Kutcher explains how CEOs can deliver on AI’s revolutionary potential—and meet this “legacy moment” successfully.

Tune in now

Happy woman holding a can of soda at refrigerated section in a supermarket

Across categories from salty snacks and beverages to vitamins and supplements, fast-growing disruptor brands are reshaping the consumer-packaged-goods landscape. Brian Henstorf, Duncan Miller, and Kristi Weaver explore what incumbent brands can do to stay competitive.

Lead tomorrow’s growth

An image linking to the web page “What AI could mean for film and TV production and the industry’s future”

How could AI transform the future of film and TV production? Marc Brodherson and coauthors examine how expanding AI capabilities are prompting industry leaders to rethink strategy—while navigating labor concerns, risks, and creativity itself.

Prepare for the future of film and TV

Back country ski tour on the Büelenhorn mountain located in the Albula Alps in Switzerland, near Davos-Monstein

This special episode of The McKinsey Podcast covers last week’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Senior Partners Becca Coggins and Shelley Stewart III talk about what was top of mind for CEOs—from geopolitics to leading through the AI moment to the faster-than-expected arrival of humanoid robots at scale.

Updates from Davos

ALSO NEW

Social media communication concept with speech bubbles, hearts, and paper planes on a wavy blue structure. Futuristic digital interaction design.

The automation curve in agentic commerce

Agentic AI is increasingly a part of shopping, but not all transactions will be automated in the same way. Here’s what agents will handle—and the situations that will call for human involvement.

The future of commerce

Laurent Kleitman wearing round glasses, a navy blazer, and a light shirt, speaking to Alex Sawaya during an interview.

How Mandarin Oriental’s CEO is scaling boutique luxury

Two years into a strategic reset, CEO Laurent Kleitman outlines how the brand plans to expand its luxury hotel offerings both geographically and conceptually—without losing its quality of service.

Lessons from a luxury leader

An image of a symmetrical arrangement of abstract, 3D, disc-shaped objects. The shapes feature various patterns, including concentric circles, spokes, and intricate lattice structures, and are arranged vertically, fanning out symmetrically to the left and right. The objects are shaded in vibrant gradients of metallic blue, orange, and yellow.

Reinventing your operating model transformation

A winning strategy requires the right operating model. But many corporate operating model transformations aren’t paying off. Here’s how companies can help ensure their models deliver.

Your five-minute briefing—or a deep dive in fifty

—Edited by Joyce Yoo, editor, New York

Follow our thinking

McKinsey Insights - Get our latest thinking on your iPhone, iPad, or Android.

Share these insights

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to colleagues and friends so they can subscribe too. Was this issue forwarded to you? Sign up for it and sample our 40+ other free email subscriptions here.

What are successful leaders doing to get AI right? In a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Senior Partner Eric Kutcher explains how CEOs can deliver on AI’s revolutionary potential—and meet this “legacy moment” successfully.﻿﻿﻿

Across categories from salty snacks and beverages to vitamins and supplements, fast-growing disruptor brands are reshaping the consumer-packaged-goods landscape. Brian Henstorf, Duncan Miller, and Kristi Weaver explore what incumbent brands can do to stay competitive.﻿

﻿How could AI transform the future of film and TV production? Marc Brodherson and coauthors examine how expanding AI capabilities are prompting industry leaders to rethink strategy—while navigating labor concerns, risks, and creativity itself.﻿

﻿The automation curve in agentic commerce﻿