Inside the Strategy Room

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 15:38) >   Among the many factors companies weigh when embarking on mergers and acquisitions, culture is one that often gets short shrift. Yet it often plays a crucial role in a deal’s success or failure. In this episode Becky Kaetzler, a leader in McKinsey’s M&A practice, explains how to conduct cultural due diligence to help...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 29:55) >   In this episode Erik Roth, who leads McKinsey’s global innovation practice, interviews Kevin O’Leary as part of our ongoing series on innovation. The Canadian entrepreneur, best known as one of the investors featured on the American reality TV series Shark Tank, shares his bets on innovation’s next frontier. Support...

In this episode we try to answer two urgent questions: how should governments approach the different possible paths to reopening their economies? And what is needed to spur businesses and consumers to start spending again?  Two McKinsey senior partners who have been deeply involved in helping companies navigate the coronavirus pandemic discuss the current uncertainty and its impact on economic rec...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 43:54) >   Hubert Joly, the former CEO and now executive chairman of Best Buy, speaks with Becca Coggins, a leader in McKinsey’s global retail practice, about Best Buy’s organizational transformation and how the coronavirus pandemic is changing the key measures of performance. This interview was recorded at the 2020 Global Busi...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 31:54) >   The coronavirus outbreak is shaping up to be the biggest economic crisis since World War II. The challenges associated with the virus are much larger than companies are used to dealing with, and firms need to have an adaptable operating model that can withstand an extraordinary level of uncertainty. How can companies...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 29:32) >   In early April we sat down with two leaders from the McKinsey Global Institute to discuss their perspectives on how the long-term, structural trends driving global disruption are now intersecting with the current economic and health crisis. Jonathan Woetzel is a senior partner and director of the McKinsey Global Inst...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 27:58) >   In this episode, McKinsey contributor Cam MacKellar talks with two senior partners, Chris Bradley and Wesley Walden, about their research on improving the results of business transformation efforts. Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 30:21) >   The COVID crisis has dominated headlines - and our lives - and it’s still not clear when and how we will return to the world we knew. Many questions remain. How will communities, businesses, and governments continue to respond to the crisis and what are the range of possible scenarios for decision makers to consider?...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 41:24) >   McKinsey partner Yuval Atsmon talks with three top US Air Force and Navy leaders about what corporate executives can learn from the practices of military commanders. Michael Donley served as the 22nd secretary of the United States Air Force. He has 30 years of experience in the national security community, including...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 37:07) >   Biases can lead executives to misjudge project potential, ignore potential pitfalls, and leave failures to fester. In this episode, McKinsey partner Tim Koller and University of Sydney professor of business strategy Dan Lovallo speak with McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance communications director Sean Brown about...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 22:12) >   As companies craft their responses to the COVID-19 crisis, CFOs are in the thick of the action. They need to make sure that their organizations weather the immediate business shocks while preparing them to emerge from the crisis in the best possible shape. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Stra...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 27:05) >   During the COVID-19 crisis, a core priority for many companies is preserving cash. In this episode, Strategy and Corporate Finance communications director Sean Brown talks with three of McKinsey’s corporate finance experts about the best ways to ensure liquidity now and manage cash and working capital as the business...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 18:30) >   In this episode we share excerpts from a webcast session on COVID-19’s implications for business resilience. It was recorded at the 2020 Global Business Leaders Forum, which had been scheduled to take place in New York in early April but was instead held online. In conversation with Strategy and Corporate Finance com...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 23:11) >   In early April 2020 we hosted our annual Global Business Leaders Forum. We held the Forum online and focused the first day on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on business. Martin Hirt, a senior partner in our Greater China Office and the global co-leader of the Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice, recently co...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 25:34) >   Environmental, social, and governance(ESG) issues are playing an increasing role in companies’ decisions around mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. But how do these factors link to corporate performance and deal potential? In this episode, two experts share their insights on navigating this fast-changing landsca...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 21:39) >   With the cost of money low and the competition for deals high, revenue synergies are playing a bigger part in the rationale for acquisitions. In this episode, three McKinsey experts discuss the challenges around capturing revenue synergies in mergers. In their conversation with Strategy & Corporate Finance communicat...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 33:05) >   McKinsey senior partners Carolyn Dewar and Scott Keller discuss the six dimensions that separate exceptional CEOs from the rest of the pack. They also provide guidance on how current and future leaders can join that elite group. Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 16:01) >   Successful mergers and acquisitions require more than just a strong M&A strategy and target list. They also demand well-planned execution, communication, and integration. We talk with two of our leading experts on transactions. Kenneth Bonheure, a senior partner based in Antwerp, leads our merger management work in A...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 30:41) >   Beth Comstock, former vice chair of GE, and McKinsey senior partner Erik Roth discuss how a tolerance for risk, patience, and thinking small (where funding is concerned) can lead to innovation breakthroughs. Beth is an innovation leader who spent almost three decades at General Electric, where for a time she headed G...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 35:07) >   Senior partner Andy West and partner Jeff Rudnicki, two of McKinsey’s most seasoned M&A experts, discuss what they have learned from their recent work with clients of the Synergy Lab, a new initiative aimed at understanding how to most effectively capture synergies in M&A deals. In their conversation with communicati...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 41:41) >   Today we’re talking with two McKinsey senior partners about a dilemma that many new CEOs face: should they focus on showing quick results or invest in the company’s long-term future, even at the expense of short-term returns? Carolyn Dewar and Michael Birshan help new leaders grapple with the dual imperatives of prod...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 16:46) >   With digital technologies unleashing ever more change in industry structures and company business models, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures are an important way for companies to reposition their organizations to compete in the digital age. In today’s podcast, Cam MacKellar, a McKinsey contributor, talks with Si...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 24:13) >   At our CFO Forum in London, senior partners Celia Huber and Vivian Hunt led a discussion on corporate diversity, sharing insights from McKinsey’s ongoing research and answering questions from attendees. This episode is an edited recording of the session. Celia begins with an introduction of McKinsey’s work with LeanI...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 39:45) >   In this episode you’ll hear from the co-authors of a recent McKinsey Quarterly article, “The drumbeat of digital: How winning teams play.” Tanguy Catlin, a senior partner in our Boston office, and Laura LaBerge, a member of our digital strategy team, will share their research on how fast and boldly companies need to...

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 44:03) >   In this episode Ruth De Backer and Eileen Kelly Rinaudo take us through a detailed masterclass on ways to manage business partnerships successfully. In their conversation with Strategy & Corporate Finance communications director Sean Brown, they discuss the four key principles that help partners in joint ventures and...