Carl Eschenbach joined Workday in December 2022 to serve as co-CEO alongside Co-Founder Aneel Bhusri before becoming sole CEO in February 2024. In this episode, our North America Chair and senior partner, Eric Kutcher, talks with Carl about taking a ‘co-existence’ view of the role of AI in the workforce as a source of productivity, building an endurable company with a growth mindset culture, and the responsibility of leaders to serve the success of others.

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Becoming CEO—just in time for a global crisis: David Gitlin

How Judy Marks leads Otis Worldwide Corporation through uncertainty and technological evolution

Data, analytics, and decisions: An interview with Teradata’s CFO

Palo Alto Networks CFO on AI, cybersecurity, and the finance leader’s mandate

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In this episode, we speak with Eric Olson, a retired US Navy Admiral with a distinguished career in special operations, about the key principles of effective leadership, particularly in times of uncertainty. Eric shares insights from his experiences leading high-performing teams and organizations through complex challenges, offering valuable leadership lessons for executives in today's rapidly changing business landscape.

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A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership

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The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs learn to lead from the inside out

Trusted advice for effective leadership

The CEO as chief resilience officer

The Strategic CEO newsletter

McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance

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Even in a highly uncertain business environment, companies that build new businesses and develop new offerings, processes, and business models are better able to capture growth opportunities and hedge against disruption. Our recent survey of more than 1,000 companies around the world reflected this, with the largest share of respondents identifying the ability to innovate as their most important strategic factor for generating growth over the coming 12 months.

To discuss the survey and talk about the innovation activities top performers are focusing on today, Sean Brown is joined by Rebecca Doherty, Matt Banholzer, and Clayton O’Toole. Rebecca co-leads our Strategic Growth and Innovation practice and is a partner in our San Francisco office. She works extensively with health care, industrial, and technology clients to define and execute growth road maps. Matt co-leads our Global Strategic Growth and Innovation practice with Rebecca and is a senior partner in our Chicago office. He also sits on the leadership team of our business-building practice, and serves organizations on innovation strategy across a range of sectors, including energy, materials, and agriculture. Clayton is a leader in our Strategy & Corporate Finance and Consumer Tech and Media practices in North America and is a partner based in our Minnesota office. He serves a wide range of clients including media organizations, sports leagues; food, apparel, and hardlines retailers; consumer packaged goods companies, and principal investors.

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How top performers use innovation to grow within and beyond the core

The eight essentials of innovation

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Vince Tizzio is President and CEO of AXIS, a specialty insurance and reinsurance company that delivers customized solutions to organizations worldwide. Since taking on the role in May 2023, Vince has led AXIS on an ambitious transformation journey.

In this episode, he speaks with McKinsey senior partner and North America Chair Eric Kutcher about what it means to take on the CEO role, how to lead through significant change with conviction and care, the kind of exposures companies should consider in today’s complex risk landscape, and how to be deliberate about investing in AI.

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Transforming for growth

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The art of 21st-century leadership: From succession planning to building a leadership factory

Author Talks: IBM’s Ginni Rometty on leading with ‘good power’

Getting fit for growth: The leadership mindsets and behaviors that matter

CEO Perspectives

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McKinsey Insights on Transformation

McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn

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Mergers and acquisitions are among the more complex processes new CEOs have to learn, whether they’re in the role for the first time or taking over at a new company. Andreas “Andy” W. Mattes has navigated this multiple times in his roles as CEO of Siemens Communications, Diebold, and later of Diebold Nixdorf, and now of the laser technology company Coherent. In this discussion with M&A practice leader Jake Henry, Andy talks about the roller-coaster ride that M&A can be, and the critical M&A skills he had to learn as a CEO, including how to best deal with competing bids and making time to commune with other CEOs.

Jake is the global co-leader of McKinsey’s M&A Practice, which includes mergers, acquisitions, integrations, joint ventures, and divestitures. He previously led our Life Sciences Practice globally, where he guided pharmaceutical and medical-technology company executives on matters of corporate strategy, growth strategy, and operational excellence for more than twenty years.

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CEOs in M&A: Five actions only the chief executive can take

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CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest

The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead From the Inside Out

McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

McKinsey Insights on M&A

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Measuring value creation is critical, as company leaders grapple with geopolitical shifts, digital disruption, and other trends affecting their businesses. Two co-authors of the new edition of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies join Sean today to discuss what they’ve learned over the course of writing and updating their book, which is now in its eighth edition, with more than 1 million copies sold worldwide

Author Tim Koller is a core leader in our Corporate Finance Practice and a Partner in our Denver office. In more than 40 years of consulting, he’s served clients globally on corporate strategy, capital markets, acquisitions, divestitures, and resource allocation. Co-author Marc Goedhart is a senior expert in our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice based in Amsterdam. He’s also an endowed professor of corporate valuation at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

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Valuation 8th edition

Subscribe to The Valuation Practitioner newsletter on LinkedIn

Author Talks: What’s new in Valuation?

Bubbles pop, downturns stop

Bias Busters: Getting both sides of the story

Biases in decision-making: A guide for CFOs

Is your ‘conglomerate discount’ a performance discount or a communication problem?

Tying short-term decisions to long-term strategy

What I learned from Daniel Kahneman

McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance

McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

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As CEO challenges go, facing a global threat that is existential not just for your company but for your industry is among the worst possible. American Airlines’ former Chairman and CEO, Doug Parker, has been through this twice while leading an airline, following the 9/11 attacks in New York and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, he speaks with McKinsey Senior Partner Celia Huber about how these experiences helped him become a better leader.

Doug Parker has served as CEO of three airlines: America West, US Airways, and American Airlines. He currently serves on the board of Qantas. Celia Huber is a McKinsey senior partner in our Bay Area office, where she leads our board services work in North America.

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Better together: Three ways to boost board–CEO collaboration

The State of Aviation 2025

Geopolitical resilience: The new board imperative

Resilience pulse check: Harnessing collaboration to navigate a volatile world

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McKinsey Insights on M&A

McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

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Holistic transformations are complex and can take a long time to show full results. By optimizing working capital early on, companies can help score early wins to create momentum and excite stakeholders across the organization. In this episode, Sean talks with two McKinsey transformation experts about how to identify and achieve these working capital improvements to maximize the impact of a transformation.

Jacob Rüden is a partner in our Transformation Practice, based in Cologne, and he leads our cash excellence work globally. He has more than 20 years of experience serving clients in transformation and on cash and working capital engagements across sectors, including automotive, energy, chemicals, transportation, consumer goods, and retail. And Marvin Denis is an expert in our Transformation Practice, based in New York. He's a core member of our cash excellence service line and co-leader of our cash solutions globally. He works across sectors, including automotive, chemicals, consumer goods, and retail.

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Gain transformation momentum early by optimizing working capital

Building optionality: Balance sheet discipline is both timely and timeless

Succeeding in the AI supply-chain revolution

A data-driven approach to improving net working capital

McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance

McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

McKinsey Insights on Transformation

McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn

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