Inside the Strategy Room

As CEO of Merck, Ken Frazier gained the respect of his employees, shareholders, and the broader community - both through the company’s performance during his 11-year tenure and also through his handling of several tests of his leadership. Now Merck’s former executive chairman, he recently shared how his experience growing up during the Civil Rights Movement shaped his career, how he ensured that science stayed at the core of Merck’s mission, and how he sees business’s role in society. In this, the first of two new episodes Frazier recorded for our Voices of CEO Excellence series, he spoke with Vik Malhotra, former chairman of our Americas region and co-author of last year’s New York Times bestseller, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest and Steve Van Kuiken, a former leader in our Life Sciences Practice and global leader of McKinsey Technology.  Listen to other episodes in our Voices of CEO Excellence series: Blackstone’s chairman, CEO, and cofounder, Stephen Schwarzman Morgan Stanley’s chairman and CEO, James Gorman Join our LinkedIn community of nearly 90,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy. Explore our collection of Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com Take a masterclass with 67 of the world’s highest-performing CEOs and order your copy of the New York Times bestseller, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.    Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Congratulations, you’re a new CFO—now hit the ground running with these seven key mindsets and practices that effective CFOs adopt from day one. Joining Sean for this episode is Andy West, the global co-leader of McKinsey's Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice, Ankur Agrawal, a partner based in our New York office who leads our CFO and Capital Markets Practice in the Americas, Christian Grube, a partner in our Munich office, and he leads our CFO and Capital Markets practice across Europe, and Lauren Cooks Levitan, the CFO of Faire, a global wholesale e-commerce marketplace. Articles mentioned in this episode:  Starting up as a CFO The evolution of the CFO The Bias Busters Collection  The new CFO mandate: Prioritize, transform, repeat Join our LinkedIn community of more than 89,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy. Explore more Inside the Strategy Room 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

What does purposeful growth look like in the retail sector? In this episode, McKinsey’s Brian Gregg speaks with two former senior executives at Nike, Christiana Shi and Stuart Hogue, about the strategies that enabled them to lead productive teams in the retail sector. The conversation touches on the importance of nurturing talent, building diverse teams, and identifying opportunities for individual and organizational growth. We are sharing today’s episode as part of an ongoing collaboration with our Growth, Marketing, and Sales Practice on the topic of growth strategy.  It is also the second episode of the Practice's new podcast called C-Suite Growth Talks, which will feature conversations with leading executives about how they are successfully choosing growth, by aligning around a shared mindset, strategy, and capabilities.   Links:  Episode transcript C-Suite Growth Talks podcast Mckinsey.com article: 'Choosing to grow: The leader’s blueprint' Join our LinkedIn community of more than 89,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy. Explore more Inside the Strategy Room 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

Today's episode comes directly from our recent European M&A Conference in London, which we co-hosted with Goldman Sachs. Sean spoke with the global leaders of our M&A practice after the conference to get their read on the climate for mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. Mieke Van Oostende is a senior partner based in Brussels whose client work is focused on financial institutions, and Jake Henry is a senior partner in Chicago who previously co-led our work in life sciences. Join our LinkedIn community of more than 89,000 members. Explore more Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up at McKinsey.com/scf Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

As volatility persists, companies need to be ready for a range of macroeconomic scenarios. Three authors of a recent article on the economic outlook for 2023 and beyond discuss how businesses can prepare for what may be a challenging couple of years. Michael Birshan is the global co-leader of McKinsey’s Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice and serves on the McKinsey Global Institute Council. Ezra Greenberg leads our work on macroeconomic scenarios and trends globally and is co-leader of strategic transformation services in North America. Ida Kristensen is global co-leader of the Risk and Resilience Practice.   Join our LinkedIn community of more than 89,000 members. Explore more Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up at McKinsey.com/scf Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Corporate innovators often turn to Israel and its vibrant start-up ecosystem to meet their goals. In this episode, we continue our Committed Innovator series on Israel, talking with innovators from three large organizations about how they approach their relations with start-ups. Roi Bar-Kat is head of Intel Capital in Israel, Neta-Li Meiri is chief of global tech innovation for the Israeli food company Strauss Group, and David Schwartz is vice president of tech innovation for PepsiCo Labs. They spoke with innovation leader and McKinsey senior partner Erik Roth about the intersection of corporate innovation and start-up lead innovation, and how the two functions can support each other. Join our LinkedIn community of more than 88,000 members. Explore more Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up at McKinsey.com/scf Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

This shift from industry sectors to customer-focused ecosystems may be the largest economic reorganization in history. What role will your company play? Global ecosystems are breaking down barriers separating traditional industries and organizing the economy around key customer needs. In this episode of Inside the Strategy Room, the co-authors of the new book The Ecosystem Economy: How to Lead in the New Age of Sectors Without Borders, explain how companies can secure their place in the ecosystem evolution. Miklós Dietz leads McKinsey’s strategy and corporate finance work within our Financial Services practice and Venkat Atluri heads up our Technology, Media & Telecommunications practice. Listen to episode 133. Digital ecosystems: Creating value in the new age of sectors without borders Join our LinkedIn community of more than 87,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy.  Explore more Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up at McKinsey.com/scf 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 share advice and insights for new CEOs about how they can make a strong start in the role. Sean Brown is joined by Carolyn Dewar, a senior partner in our San Francisco office who is the founder and co-leader of our CEO Excellence Practice. She is also a co-author of last year’s NY Times bestseller, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. Joining Carolyn today is Kurt Strovink, a senior partner in our New York office and co-leader of our global CEO initiative. He serves as a counselor to CEOs across industries and is a co-author, with Carolyn, of the Mckinsey.com article, Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal. Join our LinkedIn community of more than 87,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy.  Explore more Inside the Strategy Room episode transcripts on McKinsey.com If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up at McKinsey.com/scf Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

The chairman, CEO, and co-founder of the global investment management firm traces his journey as a business leader, financial innovator, and philanthropist. Stephen Schwarzman co-founded The Blackstone Group in 1985 and grew it into one of the largest investment firms in the world, with nearly $1 trillion in assets under management and businesses in private equity, real estate, and credit, among other areas. In this episode, Schwarzman talks with Vik Malhotra, former chairman of McKinsey’s Americas region, and senior partner David Schoeman about his approach to leadership and talent and how he assesses investment opportunities.  You can listen to or read our Voices of CEO Excellence interview with Morgan Stanley's James Gorman.  Join our LinkedIn community of more than 87,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy.  Explore more Inside the Strategy Room 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

The next generation of the internet contains online capabilities and technologies that promise to transform business models. Our goal today is to demystify these technologies, interrogate the many myths around Web3, and discover where the current and future business opportunities lie. Joining us are Ian De Bode, who leads our Web3 efforts in North America, and Matt Higginson, a partner in our Boston office and a leader in our Financial Services and Risk Practices who heads up our blockchain and digital assets initiatives globally. Ian and Matt are co-authors of the Mckinsey.com article, Web3 beyond the hype. We are also joined by Julian Sevillano, a partner in San Francisco who advises financial institutions, digital assets firms, and regulatory agencies on the risk and compliance implications of launching, scaling, and supervising digital assets businesses. We hope you enjoy the episode. Join our LinkedIn community of more than 87,000 members and follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy.  Explore more Inside the Strategy Room 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