 Airbnb navigated a major crisis in 2020–the online marketplace went from having its long-term survival questioned to staging a successful IPO several months later. In this episode, James Manyika, a senior partner based in San Francisco who co chairs the McKinsey Global Institute, talks with Brian Chesky about his experience leading Airnbnb through the crisis. Their discussion is based upon an article James recently co-authored titled, ‘It's time to build 21st century companies: Learning to thrive in a radically different world’ and inspired by his conversations and work with CEOs like Brian. You’ll hear James share some of the core insights from the article before Brian discusses how Airbnb addressed the sudden and dramatic plunge in its business, how they adapted their business model to those new realities, and how they led to a reimagination of how Airbnb defines its role in society and the economy. This podcast was recorded during a recent online global CEO event focused on growing out of the crisis. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 41:59) >   

Inside the Strategy Room

The 21st century corporation: A conversation with Brian Chesky of Airbnb

 The process of joining a public company’s board tends to be complex and confusing, especially for first-time directors. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Celia Huber, who leads McKinsey’s board services work in North America, speaks with experts on board membership and governance from the executive search and leadership consulting firm Spencer Stuart, based in Chicago, and the independent investment management company Invesco, headquartered in Atlanta. Julie Daum, head of Spencer Stuart’s board practice in North America, and Sarah Beshar, a corporate lawyer who chairs the nomination and corporate governance committee on Invesco’s board, about the preparations and commitments that newcomers to board service should expect. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 28:59) >   

Untangling the often mysterious process of joining a corporate board

 Crises tend to give rise to remarkable innovations and insights. Today is just such a moment, raising challenges to many long-held beliefs about how companies should operate. In this episode, McKinsey’s global leader Kevin Sneader talks with senior partner Celia Huber about the eight trends that will shape the post-COVID-19 economy, which he writes about in his recent article, ‘The next normal arrives: Trends that will define 2021—and beyond’. Their conversation took place during a recent virtual event featuring conversations with business leaders around the world. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 23:49) >   

Kevin Sneader on the eight trends that will define 2021–and beyond

 As the former CEO of BBA Aviation and a senior executive at GKN, Simon Pryce has led organizations that grew rapidly through acquisitions. Now, as the CEO of Ultra Electronics, a British company that develops technology for defense and security industries, he is overseeing a corporate transformation that aims to position Ultra for future growth. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, he talks with Tanuja Randery, a partner in McKinsey’s Transformation Practice, about the company’s approach to innovation and how Ultra is building an adaptable workforce. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 32:40) >   

Preparing for future growth: A conversation with Simon Pryce of Ultra Electronics

 The gaps in performance between different sectors, and the companies within those sectors, increased last year. A major reason is a small group of outperformers that already had massive stock valuations before the COVID-19 crisis and have pulled further ahead since. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, co-authors of a recent article discuss what the performance of capital markets during the pandemic indicates about future economic and investment trends. Tim Koller is a leader in McKinsey & Company’s corporate finance practice and the author of the best-selling book, Valuation. Peter Stumpner leads the corporate performance analytics group within the Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice. He is the co-author of another article on which this podcast is based, “The impact of COVID-19 on capital markets, one year in.” Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 35:11) >   

The impact of COVID-19 on capital markets

 An innovation strategy has to be backed with resources and patient follow-through, says Peter Kjellberg, the guest on this episode of the Committed Innovator series, part of our Inside the Strategy Room podcast. In a conversation with Erik Roth, who leads McKinsey & Company’s innovation work globally, the chief marketing officer for the Swedish maker of products for mobile and outdoor living and the home, describes how Dometic Group seized the recent rapid growth in food and beverage delivery to create new products for the industry and consumers. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 29:27) >   

The committed innovator: A conversation with Dometic’s Peter Kjellberg

 In a time of crisis, especially one as deep and unique as the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainty is extreme and information changes daily. Most organizations realized that they lack the tools to manage effectively in such conditions. In this episode, three McKinsey experts who are helping guide clients through the current crisis share the insights from their recent article, When nothing is normal: Managing in extreme uncertainty. Patrick Finn is a leader in McKinsey & Company’s Healthcare Systems and Services practice, serving management teams on topics ranging from corporate and business unit strategy to risk management and operations. Mihir Mysore is one of McKinsey & Company’s most experienced leaders on crisis response, helping large organizations manage operational risk, stabilize crisis situations, and build resilience. They are joined by Ophelia Usher, an expert on resilience, crisis preparedness, and crisis response and recovery. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 42:17) >   

In conversation: Managing in extreme uncertainty

 Boards of directors play a critical role in ensuring that management is well prepared for a wide range of potential shocks. In the fourth episode of our series on board perspectives around the most important issues facing organizations, this podcast looks at the role that boards play in building resilient companies. Frithjof Lund, who heads our board services work, leads a discussion with Gordon Orr, a non executive member of several companies’ boards and a McKinsey senior partner emeritus, and Martin Hirt, the global co-leader of McKinsey’s Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice. member of several companies’ boards and a McKinsey senior partner emeritus, and Martin Hirt, the global co-leader of McKinsey’s Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 36:43) >   

The role of boards in fostering resilience

 A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) indicates that up to 25 percent more workers than previously estimated may need to switch occupations. This episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast looks at how the pandemic crisis has permanently changed workplace conditions and skillsets needs, and how corporate leaders can prepare for this future. Susan Lund, an MGI leader and expert in global labor markets, is joined by her report co-author Sven Smit, co-chair of MGI, who helps leading companies develop strategies for growth. This is an edited transcript of the discussion. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 40:13) >   

The workforce of the future

 Misconceptions abound about what corporations and start-ups should expect from their partnerships on innovation projects. Yet these collaborations are growing in importance as companies of all sizes try to rapidly respond to shifts in the marketplace, as our recent article highlights. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, Miao Wang, a leader in McKinsey’s innovation practice, is joined by Tawanda Sibanda, a partner with Leap by McKinsey, which helps established organizations build and scale new businesses, and Tobias Henz, who focuses on bringing corporates and start-ups together around digitization and data, to discuss ways to improve the odds of success of such partnerships. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 40:41) >   

Collaborations between corporates and start-ups

 In the past, top business leaders tended to delegate technology and IT priorities to specialists, but that is rapidly changing. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, two McKinsey experts, who recently published an article on the topic, explain why technological investments must now be part of strategic planning at the highest corporate levels. Krish Krishnakanthan is a leader in McKinsey’s application maintenance and development work across North America, focusing on the high-tech and financial services sectors, and Gayatri Shenai helps clients drive transformative change at the intersection of strategy, digital, and operations.  Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 42:13) >   

The CEO’s new technology agenda

 John Waldron, President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs, joins McKinsey Global Managing Partner, Kevin Sneader, and Senior Partner, Carolyn Dewar to discuss the state of business globally, the growing optimism about the economic recovery, and the numerous other forces driving the recent rapid uptick in M&A activity.   A transcript of this podcast will soon be available on the Inside the Strategy Room podcast collection page on McKinsey.com, where you can also easily explore, filter, and search our library of nearly 50 previous episodes. If you would like to share feedback or an idea for a future podcast, you can reach us at insidethestrategyroom@mckinsey.com. If you would like to receive alerts on our latest insights, you can sign up on the bottom of our podcast collection page on McKinsey.com, follow us on Twitter at @McKStrategy, and connect with us on LinkedIn via our McKinsey Strategy and Corporate Finance page. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 31:09) >   

Business priorities in the post-pandemic era

 In the early days of the pandemic, preserving cash was a matter of survival for many companies. The sudden need for liquidity highlighted the critical importance of prudent cash management and inspired business leaders to raise the bar on their cash practices. Cash liquidity is now at the top of the vast majority of CFO and c-suite agendas.   Three finance experts joined us to discuss best practices in cash management. Christian Grube leads our CFO finance practice in Germany and serves clients in the automotive, health care, and manufacturing industries on a broad range of CFO topics.   Sun-You Park - an associate partner in our London office and a core member of our practice in Europe. She leads our cash service line in EMEA, and her client work is focused on cash and transformation topics across the energy, natural resources, and advanced industrials sectors.   Sun-You and Christian recently co-authored an article on cash excellence, which you can find on McKinsey dot com by searching for “Moving from cash preservation to cash excellence for the next normal”.   We are also joined by Hugo Bague. Hugo most recently was group executive of organizational resources at Rio Tinto and is now a senior advisor to McKinsey.  He has more than 25 years of experience in senior leadership roles in human resources and support functions, driving HR transformations, complex merger integrations, and cost and support function transformations.   Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 29:11) >   

Moving from cash preservation to cash excellence

 Today we tackle the topic of decision making in the boardroom. What has the pandemic taught board directors about making high-consequence, low-probability decisions?You’ll hear Frithjof Lund, the leader of our board services work, leading a discussion with three experts. Aaron De Smet, who helps organizations improve their performance and agility, and senior expert Leigh Weiss are co-authors of a recent article about decision making in uncertain times. Suzanne Nimocks is a director on the boards of ArcelorMittal, Owens Corning, Ovintiv (formerly Encana) and Valaris (formerly Ensco Rowan), as well as a former senior McKinsey partner. We hope you enjoy the discussion. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 37:20) >   

Boards and decision making

 This is the second part of Erik Roth’s interview with Ireena Vittal. In the first part of their conversation, they discussed the importance of taking a very granular approach to markets in developing countries, the constraints emerging economies place on business models, and the unique role ecosystems play. In this episode, Erik and Ireena dive into the importance of pegging capital investments to the realities of emerging economies and discuss some of the most exciting areas of innovation in those markets, including some fascinating initiatives in the public sector. We hope you enjoy this second part of their discussion. Read more >    Listen to the podcast (duration: 30:49) >   

The committed innovator: A conversation with board director Ireena Vittal. Part 2

We talk with McKinsey partners and corporate executives on the challenges they face creating lasting strategies in a fast-changing world. We also examine the different ways these executives approach these challenges and the new and innovative ways they think of creating a vision for their enterprises.