Inside the Strategy Room

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 28:15) >  We hear from Brendan Whitworth, Chief Executive Officer of Anheuser-Busch and Zone President North America of global brewing giant AB InBev. He was appointed to his role in July 2021 after leading sales in the US. Brendan shares his vision for the brewer’s next phase of growth. He spoke with Ed Little, a senior partner in our Dallas office, who serves clients in the consumer goods industry.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 25:01) >  Two experts discuss programmatic M&A, an approach to mergers and acquisitions that over many years has proven to be the most successful at delivering results—provided you execute it right. Robert Uhlaner, who co-led McKinsey’s Strategy and Corporate Finance practice until his retirement this summer, and Liz Wol, the global leader of McKinsey’s work on M&A capability building and programmatic M&A strategy, explain what programmatic M&A is, why it works, and how to do it.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 31:31) >  While environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues increasingly dominate the executive agenda, not all three elements get equal attention. This episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast—one of three exploring the various challenges around ESG—delves into the element that is most often overlooked, but has been put into a sharp focus by the pandemic: the “S.” Senior partner Dame Vivian Hunt and Bruce Simpson, CEO of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation and senior advisor to McKinsey on E.S.G and purpose, discuss engagement on social issues with Franz Paasche, who heads up corporate affairs globally for PayPal, a role that includes stakeholder management.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

“Stakeholder capitalism” is the buzzword du jour for business practices that strive to achieve more than profits and a high stock price. But what does benefitting all stakeholders really entail? What trade-offs do companies have to make? And how do business leaders put the aspiration into practice? In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast—the second in a series on meeting the challenges of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) demands—two experts lay out the case for stakeholder capitalism. Dame Vivian Hunt is a senior partner who serves clients on a broad range of strategy topics. Bruce Simpson is CEO of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation, and senior advisor to McKinsey on E.S.G and Purpose.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 33:46) >  Purpose and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) issues represent critical challenges for both boards and executive teams. They have become particularly salient since the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced corporations to scrutinize their responsibilities and role in society. In this episode—one of three exploring the various challenges around ESG—two experts who have long studied the connection between purpose and ESG explain how to align these commitments and embed them in organizations’ lived experience. Rupert Younger is the founder of the Centre for Corporate Reputation at Oxford University and chairs the Enacting Purpose Initiative, a multi-institution partnership that works to establish best practices around purpose governance. Robin Nuttall is a leader in McKinsey’s ESG and regulatory strategy practice.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 24:41) >  Frank D’Amelio has been the CFO of Pfizer for 14 years, but the past 18 months have been like unlike any other. In this episode, he relates how the company addressed the most urgent and massive challenge in its history: developing a vaccine for COVID-19. Working in partnership with BioNTech, Pfizer accomplished that feat in record-breaking time, helping to alleviate the biggest global health crisis in living memory. D’Amelio spoke with Rodney Zemmel, global co leader of McKinsey Digital, during a virtual event we recently hosted for finance executives.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 32:41) >  When Kevin Hostetler took the reins of Rotork, a UK-based company that makes industrial flow-control equipment, he immediately launched a multi-year transformation to help the company benefit from trends transforming the industries it serves. In this episode he talks with Anna Koivuniemi, co-leader of McKinsey’s work on growth strategy, about the progress Rotork has made and the challenges of changing the culture. This is an edited transcript of the discussion.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

As organizations increasingly grapple with digital transformations, large technology investments, and shifts to the cloud, these issues regularly appear on board agendas. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Steve Van Kuiken, global leader of the McKinsey Technology practice and co-author of a recent article about ways boards can shape the cloud agenda, speaks with two experienced directors about the implications of such a move. David Court sits on the boards of pension investment manager PSP Investments, retailer Canadian Tire, and several other organizations. Liz Lempres is an independent director on the boards of General Mills and Great-West Lifeco, among others.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 explore how digital analytics is revolutionizing strategy. Nicholas Northcote, who for years led McKinsey’s research on strategic decision making, is joined by Sagie Davidovich, the co-founder and CEO of SparkBeyond, a McKinsey partner company that operates an AI-driven analytics platform, and Sasha Vesuvala, who leads much of McKinsey’s work in applying advanced analytics to strategy and growth-related questions. Our conversation is based on the recent McKinsey.com article. ‘The strategy-analytics revolution’.  Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 50:13) >  Companies looking to bring breakthrough innovations to life need the right organizational structures and incentives in place. In his book Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries (St. Martin’s Press, March 2019), Safi Bahcall, a former biotech CEO who now helps organizations innovate, explains what that requires. In this episode, he talks with Erik Roth, leader of McKinsey’s innovation work globally, about why some great ideas changed the world and others failed to take off.Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information