Inside the Strategy Room

Despite its small domestic market, Israel has managed to build a vibrant start-up scene that competes with those of much larger countries. In this episode, two leaders of Israel’s innovation culture, Avi Hasson and Chemi Peres, talk with McKinsey’s innovation leader Erik Roth in this first in a series of episodes on innovation in Israel. Hasson leads a not-for-profit, Startup Nation Central, that promotes Israel’s start-up sector, while Peres leads a venture capital firm, Pitango, and a not-for-profit, The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, that promotes peace and innovation which was started by Chemi’s father, Shimon Peres, the former prime minister of Israel. Follow The Committed Innovator podcast and read the transcript of today's episode.  Join our LinkedIn community of more than 86,000 members and follow us on Twitter @McKStrategy.  Explore Inside the Strategy Room podcast transcripts episode transcripts on McKinsey.comSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

The risk and ambiguity inherent in innovation can make employees shy away from it. Creating an innovation culture where risk-taking is embraced must start at the top. Most executives will agree that fear—of criticism, of uncertainty, of career consequences—can paralyze innovation. In this episode, three innovation experts discuss ways to create an environment of psychological safety that rewards creative initiative and destigmatizes failure. Laura Furstenthal, Alex Morris, and Erik Roth, all leaders in McKinsey’s innovation practice, are the co-authors of the recent article, Fear factor: overcoming human barriers to innovation. Join our LinkedIn community of more than 86,000 members.  Explore Inside the Strategy Room podcast transcripts episode transcripts on McKinsey.com  Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

AI tools can help executives avoid biases in decisions, pull insights out of oceans of data, and make strategic choices more quickly. And that’s just the beginning. Can machines automate strategy development? The short answer is no. However, there are numerous aspects of strategists’ work where AI and advanced analytics tools can already bring enormous value. Yuval Atsmon is a senior partner who leads the new McKinsey Center for Strategy Innovation, which studies ways new technologies can augment the timeless principles of strategy. In this episode, he explains how artificial intelligence is already transforming strategy and what’s on the horizon.  Read Yuval's articles on strategic decision-making: Where, how much, and how: Answering the hardest questions of resource allocation  How nimble resource allocation can double your company’s value  Connect with Yuval on LinkedIn.Join our LinkedIn community of more than 86,000 members.  Explore Inside the Strategy Room podcast transcripts episode transcripts on McKinsey.com  Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

One of the surest signs of a thriving enterprise is robust and consistent revenue growth. That has not been easy to accomplish over the past 15 years. Now, with a slowing global economy, rising inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty, growth may become more elusive still. To help business leaders buck these trends, our guests Chris Bradley and Rebecca Doherty conducted an in-depth study of the growth patterns and performance of the world’s 5,000 largest public companies over the past 15 years. Their findings suggest ten rules that should guide organizations seeking to outgrow and outearn their peers.  Chris is a senior partner based in our Sydney office and a director of the McKinsey Global Institute. Rebecca leads our work on growth and innovation and is based in the Bay Area. They joined Sean Brown to discuss how business leaders can unlock the growth code.  Read Chris and Rebecca's article on McKinsey.com Join our LinkedIn community of more than 86,000 members.  Explore Inside the Strategy Room podcast transcripts episode transcripts on McKinsey.com                                  Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

In this episode we discuss strategy in an age of volatility. How are business leaders honing their edge in three critical areas–insights, commitment, and execution–to successfully navigate this period of uncertainty? How should executives manage the downside while aggressively pursuing the upside in times of crisis and disruption? To answer these questions, Sean Brown is joined by Michael Birshan and Ishaan Seth. Michael and Ishaan recently cowrote an article on this topic with Bob Sternfels, our global managing partner. Michael and Ishaan are the co-leaders of our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice. Ishaan joins us from New York, and his client work has focused banking and securities and financial services. Michael joins us from London, and he works with clients in energy, natural resources, and industrials. He also serves on the McKinsey Global Institute Council, which advises on research on global economic, business, and technology trends.  What if the world’s highest-performing CEOs held a master class to share the skills and practices that have driven their success over the years? Learn more in CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest Unlock big strategy moves to beat the odds in business.  Learn more in Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick. We invite you to join our LinkedIn community of more than 86,000 members. Join us to receive the latest insights on strategy and corporate finance.  You can also explore more Inside the Strategy Room podcast episode transcripts on McKinsey.com  Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Corporate resilience requires both protecting against the downside and preparing to capture the upside from any shocks.  In this episode, three experts discuss the board's role in building that resilience. Asutosh Padhi is a senior partner in our Chicago office who helps industrial companies with functional, business unit, and enterprise-wide transformations. Celia Huber, a senior partner in our San Francisco Bay Area office, leads our board services work in North America. Finally, Ida Kristensen is a senior partner in our New York office who coleads our Risk and Resilience Practice in North America, as well as our Global Cybersecurity Practice.  Here is the board survey Celia mentions during this episode: How boards have risen to the COVID-19 challenge, and what’s next Here is the episode on board resilience from April 2021. We invite you to join our LinkedIn community of more than 86,000 members. Join us to receive the latest insights on strategy and corporate finance.  You can also explore more Inside the Strategy Room podcast episode transcripts on McKinsey.comSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

The elements of an effective performance-management system are relatively simple, but integrating them into a business’ fundamental operating system can be more complex than it seems. In this episode, we discuss recent innovations in performance management that business leaders can implement across the planning and performance management cycle. We share best practices for how to incorporate energy transition and ESG themes into performance management, how to adopt an agile goal-setting approach, and we look at how best-in-class companies are adopting a single digital approach to reporting.  Our guests include Christian Grube, who leads our CFO service line in Germany and serves clients in the automotive, healthcare, and manufacturing Industries. Roel Hoyer, who co-leads McKinsey's O&G strategy service line, focusing on serving oil and gas, and OFSE clients, and Rohan Jain, who serves South East Asian clients on sustainability transformations, new business building, and tech-enabled transformations. Join our LinkedIn community at https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance Explore more Inside the Strategy Room podcast episode transcripts at https://www.mckinsey.com/itsrSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Few business leaders have more experience in M&A than Brad Jacobs. Over a four-decade-plus career, he created several billion-dollar corporations. The most recent three he built largely through acquisitions: United Rentals, an industrial equipment rental company; United Waste Systems, involved in garbage collection; and XPO, the logistics company he currently leads. At both United Rentals and United Waste, he executed more than 200 deals each. At XPO, he has created a digital-forward logistics leader in an industry that has tended to lag in technology adoption. Brad will soon transition from CEO to executive chairman of XPO. We thought it’d be a good time to ask him to share the lessons he has learned over the course of his extensive deal-making experience. Brad sat down with Andy West, a senior partner based in Boston who co-leads McKinsey’s M&A practice globally. Join our LinkedIn community:https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance Explore more Inside the Strategy Room podcast episode transcripts: https://www.mckinsey.com/itsr Contact Andy West: https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/andy-westSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Growth is something every CEO and business leader aspires to deliver, but for many, it remains elusive. In this episode, Biljana Cvetanovski, Erik Roth, and Jill Zucker join Sean Brown to discuss the steps leaders can take to help foster sustainable, inclusive growth within their organizations. Biljana, Erik, and Jill are the co-authors of the recent Mckinsey.com article, ‘Choosing to grow: the leader’s blueprint.’ You can read the article here: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/choosing-to-grow-the-leaders-blueprint Biljana is a partner in our London office who leads our Growth, Marketing, and Sales practice in the U.K., Ireland, and Israel. Erik Roth is a senior partner in our Stamford, Connecticut office. He's a leader in our Innovation practice, and he focuses on helping clients grow through innovation. Jill Zucker is a senior partner and the former managing partner of our New York office. She co-leads our global growth transformation work. Join our LinkedIn community:https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance Explore more Inside the Strategy Room podcast episode transcripts: https://www.mckinsey.com/itsr Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

In this episode, we hear from Richard Rumelt. Richard has been called, “A giant in the field of strategy.” He is the Harry and Elsa Kunin Chair Emeritus at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a founding member and former president of the Strategic Management Society. He is also the author of Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters, and in this episode he’ll explain how to circumvent what he calls, “the contagion of bad strategy.” His reflections are based on his latest book, The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists. Richard is joined by our communications director, Sean Brown, and Yuval Atsmon, a senior partner based in our London office. Learn more about Richard’s book: https://thecruxbook.com/ Join our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance Explore more Inside the Strategy Room podcast episode transcripts: https://www.mckinsey.com/itsr Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information