A new management playbook for AI, AI-powered shopping, and more

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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

The Weekend Read is back with fresh insights this Labor Day weekend, including a new playbook for running companies in the age of AI, trends redefining how consumers shop, and more.

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What makes AI transformations succeed at scale? It’s not just the technology. Alex Singla, Alexander Sukharevsky, Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje, and Robert Levin studied companies creating economic value through AI to uncover a new management playbook for moving faster, building the right capabilities, and turning AI into value.

Build your AI muscle

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Sometimes the answer to a complex transformation is to do everything at once. Reckitt partnered with McKinsey to separate noncore businesses, reset its operating model, and restructure its cost base—all in parallel. The result: more than 8 percent operating profit growth, a simpler organization, and faster decision-making.

Discover how Reckitt made 3 moves at once

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Consumers are rewriting the rules of shopping. In a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Danielle Bozarth and Clarisse Magnin discuss how AI, wellness, experiences, and value-conscious behavior are reshaping the consumer journey and what brands must do to keep pace.

Explore 4 trends shaping consumers today

How can leaders embrace change without losing sight of what matters most? Invesco President and CEO Andrew Schlossberg speaks to McKinsey Senior Partner Eric Kutcher about embedding AI into strategy, empowering employees to use it, and balancing innovation with enduring principles such as trust and integrity.

Earn and sustain trust

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Europe on the move: A conversation with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s CEO

With 160 years of experience, Boerse Stuttgart Group is Europe’s sixth-largest exchange group, helping position Europe for the future through digital, blockchain innovation, and financial infrastructure.

Unlock Europe’s growth potential

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State of Luxury: What US and Chinese clients reveal about the sector’s future

Join us for a webinar exploring key findings from the latest State of Luxury report featuring McKinsey Senior Partners Gemma D’Auria and Anita Balchandani and Nick Blunden of The Business of Fashion.

Register now

Why progress is more physical than we think

From tomatoes and copper to data centers and steel, the modern economy depends on a material world hidden in plain sight.

Look back at progress

—Edited by Joyce Yoo, editor, New York

An image linking to the web page “The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI” on McKinsey.com.

What is the state of AI in 2026?

AI high performers stand out for how they put it to work—and translate adoption into measurable impact. Explore this latest research on coding agents and other agentic AI tools, investment and costs, workforce implications, and the practices that can help turn AI momentum into lasting enterprise value.

The state of AI in 2026

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﻿Consumers are rewriting the rules of shopping. In a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Danielle Bozarth and Clarisse Magnin discuss how AI, wellness, experiences, and value-conscious behavior are reshaping the consumer journey and what brands must do to keep pace.﻿

﻿Europe on the move: A conversation with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s CEO﻿

﻿State of Luxury: What US and Chinese clients reveal about the sector’s future

﻿Why progress is more physical than we think﻿

What is the state of AI in 2026?﻿

Consumers are rewriting the rules of shopping. In a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Danielle Bozarth and Clarisse Magnin discuss how AI, wellness, experiences, and value-conscious behavior are reshaping the consumer journey and what brands must do to keep pace.

Europe on the move: A conversation with Boerse Stuttgart Group’s CEO

State of Luxury: What US and Chinese clients reveal about the sector’s future

Why progress is more physical than we think

What is the state of AI in 2026?