M&A dealmakers have been on a wild ride. From the pandemic-fueled rout in 2020 to 2021’s record-breaking recovery, followed by a steep decline in 2023, the global M&A market has offered something of a masterclass in volatility. In this episode, we are joined by senior partners Jake Henry, Mieke Van Oostende, and Andy West to discuss the trends in the global M&A environment in 2024 and what they mean for business leaders. Jake and Mieke recently published a report on McKinsey.com, Top M&A trends in 2024: Blueprint for success in the next wave of deals, which forms the basis for ..read more

Private equity firms have a well-earned reputation for elevating the performance of the companies they invest in. A cornerstone of their strategy is a relentless pursuit of operational excellence to drive efficiency and productivity. In this episode, we analyze what public company CEOs can glean from the private equity playbook to enhance their own company's performance. Our guests are John Kelleher and Radhika Ray.    John is a senior partner in our Private Equity Special Operations group and serves as an interim in-house executive helping companies execute large PE-style transforma ..read more

CEOs and CFOs are redefining their interactions with the board to ensure success in an era of rapid change. Joining us to delve into this growing trend of collaboration between CEOs, management teams, and boards are Celia Huber, leader of our North American board services practice, along with Michael Birshan and Andy West, the co-leaders of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice.    Related reading:  The board’s role in building resilience https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-boards-role-in-building-resilience Five ways to in ..read more

Fewer than one in four companies outpace their industry peers on revenue and profit growth. We discuss new research that reveals the six mindsets and strategies that set these growth outperformers apart. We're joined by Rebecca Doherty, a partner in our Bay Area office and co-leader of our Strategic Growth and Innovation practice, Jill Zucker, a senior partner who co-leads our global growth transformation work, and Kate Seigel, a partner in our Detroit office who advises clients on growth strategy and execution using M&A and organic approaches. Related reading:  Courageous growth ..read more

Zane Rowe is the CFO of Workday, a California-based company that develops enterprise software for managing finance, HR, and planning. Workday has been growing rapidly, and its growth-oriented culture is a central theme of the discussion we recorded between Zane and McKinsey's CFO Eric Kutcher Listen to Eric's conversation with Palo Alto Network's CFO, Dipak Golechha: https://link.chtbl.com/SgZPqa6t Listen to Eric's conversation with Teradata CFO Claire Bramley: https://link.chtbl.com/w3ustEBP Join our Strategy and Corporate Finance  LinkedIn community and follow us on X at @McKStrategy.  ..read more

Boards can play an essential role in engaging management teams to ensure they fully explore the potential of generative AI, even beyond their comfort zone. In this episode, we discuss the most important questions boards need to ask senior executives as their companies move to adopt this technology. Our guests are experienced in both technology and board practices.  Frithjof Lund is our managing partner in Norway and leads our firm’s Board Services Practice globally.  Douglas Merrill is a partner in our Southern California office and was the Chief Information Officer and VP of Enginee ..read more

We're joined by Charles Conn and Rob McLean, AM, the co-authors of The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times. Charles is an investor, environmentalist, and entrepreneur. He co-founded Monograph, a venture firm, and was previously CEO of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford. He is the Board Chair of Patagonia and sits on The Nature Conservancy European Council. He was the founding CEO of Ticketmaster-Citysearch and a partner at McKinsey & Company.  Rob is a Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Company, a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy in Australia and Asia, and a Director ..read more

Many companies turn to transformation because their leaders seek to capture untapped potential or realize growth or efficiency gains. Yet transformations take work to get right. Our research shows less than a third of transformations reach their goals to improve organizational performance and sustain these improvements over time. To discuss how to beat those odds and sustain a holistic business transformation over the long term, we are joined by Roman Regelman and Kevin Carmody.   Roman is Senior Executive Vice President and Global Head of Securities Services and Digital at US-based finan ..read more

A chief of staff can be instrumental to a CEO's success while also advancing their own career. While the role’s variability and intensity make it challenging, they also make it exciting. We're joined by Blair Epstein, Poppy Johnson, and Connor Rochford to discuss the eight pieces of advice they have distilled from hundreds of interviews with those who have mastered the role. Read the McKinsey.com article, Seeing around corners: How to excel as a chief of staff, by Eleanor Bensley, Andrew Goodman, Poppy Johnson, and Connor Rochford Join our LinkedIn community of more than 90,000 ..read more

We discuss the role M&A can play in the launch and success of large-scale transformations. Our guests are Chris Hagedorn and Alex Liu. Chris is a leader in our Transformation Practice, where he designs and executes comprehensive transformations, including M&A integration and value capture to achieve rapid and sustainable performance improvement for clients. Alex is a leader in our M&A Practice. He works closely with senior leadership teams on large-scale mergers and brings expertise in realizing revenue-based synergies.  Chris and Alex's recent McKinsey.com article: When a tr ..read more