What happens when AI agents can reason through problems well enough to complete real work on their own? This episode of The McKinsey Podcast offers answers to that question and more from OpenAI’s chair Bret Taylor, who is also cofounder of Sierra—which helps some of the world’s biggest companies build sophisticated AI agents, including about 40 percent of the Fortune 50. Taylor speaks with Eric Kutcher, McKinsey senior partner and chair of North America, about where AI is already reshaping customer service, sales, and software engineering; why open-weight models will always have a place despite the frontier labs’ cost advantage; and why he thinks the data center buildout—despite its real financial risk—is a bet the US needs to make. 

In this recurring series on The McKinsey Podcast, Kutcher speaks with top CEOs about the practice of leadership.

The McKinsey Podcast is regularly cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

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The toughest transformation problems aren’t always strategic or operational. They’re human: the instinct to play it safe, protect what’s ours, trust who we know, and wait for change to pass. Individually, these behaviors can seem perfectly rational. Collectively, they can bring a transformation to a standstill. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Kurt Strovink and Partner join Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss five collective-action problems that inhibit transformation success, and what leaders need to know to spot them early—and solve them. 

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at:  [email protected]

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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Over the past 100 years, humanity has made stunning advances: longer lives, higher incomes, and billions of people lifted out of poverty. Much of that progress remains uneven and incomplete, however. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, we share an adapted conversation from the McKinsey Global Institute’s (MGI) podcast A Century of Plenty, which draws on insights from the institute’s recent book of the same name. The book’s coauthors, McKinsey’s Chris Bradley, Marc Canal, Nick Leung, and Sven Smit, explore whether a new era of broad-based prosperity will extend into the next century. After, McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro is joined by coauthor Sven Smit, senior partner emeritus, to discuss where the next big ideas will come from and how leaders should think about knowledge and judgment in an AI-driven world. 

For more insights from the book and to hear more from its authors, tune into MGI’s new podcast series A Century of Plenty on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: [email protected]

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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Geopolitical fragmentation, the rise of AI, and growing concern about supply chain resilience are putting US manufacturing back in the spotlight. But strengthening America’s industrial base isn’t simply a matter of bringing factories home. The US imports roughly $3 trillion in manufactured goods each year, and some of its most critical supply chains would require a dramatic expansion of domestic capacity. 

On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) Chair and Senior Partner Shubham Singhal and Senior Fellow Rebecca J. Anderson join Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to explore where the United States is most vulnerable, what it could cost to rebuild critical manufacturing capacity, and how AI, investment, and American innovation could change the equation.

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: [email protected]

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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Shoppers are awash in product recommendations. But do they trust them? “We found significant skepticism around algorithm-driven channels like social media, and in particular generative AI, where the trust level is below 40 percent,” says Danielle Bozarth, global leader of McKinsey’s Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods Practices. In this episode of   McKinsey Podcast, Bozarth joins Senior Partner Clarisse Magnin and Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to talk about AI-powered shopping and other trends reshaping consumers’ path to purchase—and what brands need to do differently to keep up with them.

 The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

This episode has been adapted from our McKinsey Live webinar series. 

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at:  [email protected]

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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As artificial intelligence reshapes what investors expect from their advisors, asset managers are being pressed to move faster without eroding the trust that took decades to build. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partner and North America chair Eric Kutcher, speaks with Andrew Schlossberg, president and CEO of Invesco, about navigating market volatility, putting AI directly in employees' hands rather than dictating it from the top, and slowing down to speed up.

In this recurring series on The McKinsey Podcast, Kutcher speaks with top CEOs about the practice of leadership.

The McKinsey Podcast is regularly cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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Window or aisle? These days, if you’re at the front of the plane, you don’t have to choose: “Everything is about having direct aisle access from every seat,” says Steve Saxon, coleader of McKinsey’s Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure Practice. And that’s just one of the many ways airlines are reinventing the premium experience for a burgeoning customer segment: the affluent vacationers now occupying seats once dominated by corporate road warriors. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Saxon talks with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about why premium leisure travel is on the rise, what that means for airline economics, and how it’s prompting carriers to rethink everything from pricing to service to cabin design and product innovation.

The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: [email protected]

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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Do you feel stuck in the career you have? Suzy Welch, an NYU professor and author of Becoming You: The Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career (HarperCollins Publishers, May 2025), has your back. In today’s episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Welch explains that if your career doesn’t feel quite right, it may be because you’ve lost touch with your aptitudes and values. This episode was previously broadcast on our McKinsey Talks Talent podcast, featuring talent experts Brooke Weddle and Bryan Hancock.

The McKinsey Podcast is regularly cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

Click here to view the full transcript of this episode.

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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The next era of value creation may be defined less by digital innovation alone and more by the ability to build, operate, and scale physical assets. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast,  co-CEO of Hines Laura Hines-Pierce joins McKinsey’s North American Chair Eric Kutcher to discuss a widening gap between digital ambition and physical capacity. From a global housing shortage to an emergency energy and infrastructure supercycle, the conversation explores what it takes to build at scale—and why labor, permitting, and supply chain are now the true bottlenecks. They also reflect on leadership, organizational change, and preparing a 70-year-old firm for a more volatile, fast-changing future.

In this recurring series on The McKinsey Podcast, Kutcher speaks with top CEOs about the practice of leadership.

The McKinsey Podcast is regularly cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

To watch the full-length version of this interview, visit The McKinsey Podcast playlist on McKinsey’s YouTube channel.

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: [email protected]

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

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Could AI transformation be exhausting humans rather than optimizing their performance? As artificial intelligence transforms how we work, organizations face a new challenge: ensuring people have the brain health and skills to cope with the cognitive demands of technology. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Partners and Kana Enomoto, and McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) Senior Fellow Jacqueline Brassey, speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about why brain capital is becoming a key competitive advantage in the age of AI—and what leaders can do to build healthier, more adaptable, and higher-performing organizations.

In the second half of this episode, McKinsey Senior Partner Shubham Singhal joins Lucia to answer a few audience questions from a recent McKinsey Live webinar on geopolitics and how it’s reshaping global trade. 

The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

This episode has been adapted from our McKinsey Live webinar series.

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: [email protected]

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information