Turning budgets into strategy, luxury’s agentic shift, and more

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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

This weekend, sit back with McKinsey’s latest reads on agile budgeting, the agentic shift in luxury, the latest on US consumer sentiment, and more.

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To keep pace with today’s fast-changing macro trends, top companies are rethinking budgeting, making it more flexible, data-driven, and aligned with strategy. Matthew Maloney and coauthors explore how top CFOs are discovering how agile budgeting can become a competitive edge.

4 action steps for CFOs

A woman holding a young child in a parking lot near shopping carts and parked cars. The woman looks off into the distance with a focused expression, while the child looks toward the camera.

US consumers are growing more cautious as rising cost concerns have led many to plan cuts in discretionary spending. Christina Adams, Kari Alldredge, and Thomas Kilroy draw on the latest McKinsey ConsumerWise research to examine the trade-offs Americans are making ahead of summer.

The latest consumer sentiment research

An image linking to the web page “When AI meets desire”

An agentic shift in luxury is pushing purchasing decisions to earlier in the customer journey. AI is also sparking consumer interest through personalized, adviser-like experiences at scale that go beyond the boutique and to a broader customer base. Anita Balchandani, Gemma D’Auria, Holger Harreis, Roger Roberts, Steven Begley, and Katharina Giebel examine how AI can deepen relationships with high-spend customers.

Read the full report

How is agentic AI changing the software industry? Sonar leveraged technology to reimagine software development, achieving major gains in speed, quality, and scalability. “The companies getting the most out of agentic development are the ones with the strongest foundations,” says Sonar CEO Tariq Shaukat. See how Sonar is unlocking product development life cycle transformation with AI.

Sonar’s agentic transformation

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Long-term value creation is foundational to building strong companies and economies, yet many leaders struggle to ensure that well-conceived, well-executed strategies receive full recognition from investors. Join Ryan Davies and Jacob Marcus on June 18 as they discuss how to anticipate investor reactions, assess opportunities to outperform expectations, and embed an investor mindset into decision-making to build greater resilience.

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Airline premium cabins: Profitability at the front of the plane

Airlines can modernize their approach to business- and first-class revenue. Premium cabins call for differentiated strategies.

Get premium right

—Edited by Nadia Wynter, editor, Washington, DC

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To keep pace with today’s fast-changing macro trends, top companies are rethinking budgeting, making it more flexible, data-driven, and aligned with strategy. Matthew Maloney and coauthors explore how top CFOs are discovering how agile budgeting can become a competitive edge.﻿﻿﻿

US consumers are growing more cautious as rising cost concerns have led many to plan cuts in discretionary spending. Christina Adams, Kari Alldredge, and Thomas Kilroy draw on the latest McKinsey ConsumerWise research to examine the trade-offs Americans are making ahead of summer.﻿

﻿[Webcast] Improving private equity exit prospects

﻿[Webcast] Driving value with an investor mindset

﻿Airline premium cabins: Profitability at the front of the plane﻿

To keep pace with today’s fast-changing macro trends, top companies are rethinking budgeting, making it more flexible, data-driven, and aligned with strategy. Matthew Maloney and coauthors explore how top CFOs are discovering how agile budgeting can become a competitive edge.

US consumers are growing more cautious as rising cost concerns have led many to plan cuts in discretionary spending. Christina Adams, Kari Alldredge, and Thomas Kilroy draw on the latest McKinsey ConsumerWise research to examine the trade-offs Americans are making ahead of summer.

[Webcast] Improving private equity exit prospects

[Webcast] Driving value with an investor mindset

Airline premium cabins: Profitability at the front of the plane