Dream bigger about AI, find hidden cash, 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

Ahead of the weekend, explore the week’s big reads on capturing the larger opportunity from agentic AI, how CFOs can free up cash, key takeaways from Dreamforce, and more.

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Just 11 percent of organizations have reached the “reinvention” horizon, where AI changes not just individual tasks but how work gets done and value is created. Alexis Krivkovich, Brooke Weddle, Holly Price, and Vik Sohoni explore four interconnected shifts that can help leaders move beyond AI adoption toward organizational reinvention.

Dream bigger with AI

A businessperson holds out a hand beneath a digital bank icon surrounded by symbols for data, security, analytics, and connectivity, representing the interconnected digital systems used to create digital twins in banking.

Every bank may need a twin. A digital one, that is. Anke Raufuss, Björn Nilsson, Laura Webanck, and Andrew Margrave explore how a live virtual model connecting a bank’s systems, processes, and controls could reveal hidden risks, simulate how failures cascade, and help risk leaders stay ahead of threats.

Put a digital twin to the test

An image linking to the web page “The cash hiding in plain sight”

How much cash could be hiding inside a company? From excess inventory to delayed payments, McKinsey research suggests companies can release 10 to 30 percent of their working capital. Kevin Carmody, Matthew Maloney, and Werner Rehm explore four ways CFOs can free up funds for growth without a major transformation.

Find the cash hiding in plain sight

Entrance to Dreamforce, with a large blue arch and “Dreamforce” signage outside the conference venue.

A key takeaway from Dreamforce: For every $1 companies spend deploying AI, they may need to spend $3 on change management. Yet most do the reverse. Leaders at Salesforce’s annual technology conference explored what it takes to close the AI impact gap, from rewiring operating models to orchestrating agents.

Find the shortest path from AI to ROI

ALSO NEW

A partially illuminated Earth with the Americas visible as sunlight emerges from behind the planet.

Shareholder activism is changing. Are companies ready?

Boards and CEOs can build value-creation plans that withstand and even benefit from shareholder activist scrutiny.

When activism can create value

Cars and pedestrians are moving by on a busy main street in rural America with window-lined with shops and a cobblestone roadway

America’s next growth opportunity: An investment-ready heartland

With a more coordinated approach, smaller cities in the middle of the country could generate trillions of dollars in added economic output.

Why small communities matter

Siemens’s next reinvention: An interview with Cedrik Neike

As technology transforms the factory floor, industrial companies are confronting a broader question: What will it take to lead the next era of manufacturing?

Navigate the next era of manufacturing

—Edited by Danny McCance, editor, Carolinas

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The technology shifts every business leader should be watching

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﻿Shareholder activism is changing. Are companies ready?﻿

﻿America’s next growth opportunity: An investment-ready heartland﻿

﻿Siemens’s next reinvention: An interview with Cedrik Neike﻿

The technology shifts every business leader should be watching﻿

Shareholder activism is changing. Are companies ready?

America’s next growth opportunity: An investment-ready heartland

Siemens’s next reinvention: An interview with Cedrik Neike

The technology shifts every business leader should be watching