Innovation and transformation become critical imperatives for many organizations, especially as they grow larger and mature. The complex merger and series of spin-offs that Dow Inc. underwent with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company between 2017 and 2018 is among the more dramatic of such reinventions. The move to create a materials science company (Dow), an agricultural business (Corteva), and an industrial company (Dupont), remains a much-studied growth strategy case.

In this episode, Dow Inc. Chair and CEO Jim Fitterling talks with McKinsey Senior Partner and Global Energy and Materials Practice leader John Warner about why the “merge-spin” made sense then and now, and about leading a global company with compassion in a rapidly changing world. 

Related insights

How Dow reinvented itself

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

The Committed Innovator: A conversation with Neal Gutterson of Corteva

The making of a megadeal: Howard Ungerleider on the merger of Dow and DuPont

Top M&A trends in 2024: Blueprint for success in the next wave of deals

How one approach to M&A is more likely to create value than all others

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The best leaders are masterful communicators. They advance the aspirations of their companies with compelling, singular narratives that inspire a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. In this episode, we’re joined by three CEO and stakeholder relations experts who share their research into how CEOs can foster deeper dialogues and more meaningful connections with their wide range of stakeholders. Blair Epstein is a partner in our Bay Area office and a leader in our CEO Excellence Practice. Julia McClatchy is a partner in our Philadelphia office and a leader in our Growth, Marketing, and Sales Practice, and Eric Sherman is an expert based in our New York office who co-leads our CEO communications work.

Related Insights

How the best CEOs build lasting stakeholder relationships

The CEO’s essential checklist: Questions every chief executive should be able to answer

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

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

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Judy Marks is one of the few dozen women who lead Fortune 500 companies. She joined Connecticut-based Otis Elevator in 2017 as President, and was appointed CEO in 2019. After leading the company’s 2020 spinoff to become an independent publicly traded company, she was appointed Chair as well. Additionally, Judy serves on the board of Caterpillar.

In this episode McKinsey Senior Partner and North America Chair Eric Kutcher talks with Judy about how she thinks about geopolitical shifts, technological change, and leading 71,000 employees in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.

Related insights

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

A business of its times: Haier’s self-evolving organization

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

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

Opening doors for women leaders: An interview with Caroline Feeney

CEO Perspectives

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Corporate boards face increasing complexity as factors such as technological and geopolitical change challenge the organizations they serve. At the same time, boards are expected to do more, including to serve as catalysts of value creation. In this episode we talk with three experts on board effectiveness about their research: Senior partners Frithjof Lund and Celia Huber lead McKinsey’s Board Services Practice, together with senior expert Nina Spielmann. Their recently published analysis, “Better together: Three ways to boost board–CEO collaboration,” looks at the ways boards can do more to help advance the corporations they steward.

Related insights

The rising complexity of board directorship

Ready to board: Ascending new heights through CEO-board communication

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We discuss the role of technology in improving board communications, the challenges boards face in managing information, and how AI and cloud-based platforms can help streamline board meetings and improve decision-making.

Our guests are Niamh Corbett, the Head of Americas for Board Intelligence, McKinsey senior partner Celia Huber, who leads our North American Board Services Practice, and actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur Edward Norton, who is also the co-founder and head of strategy at Zeck—a cloud-based software platform designed specifically for boards.

Related insights

Better together: Three ways to boost board–CEO collaboration

The rising complexity of board directorship

Ready to board: Ascending new heights through CEO-board communication

Zeck is software that reimagines the board meeting process to improve decision-making for boards, investors, and management teams.

Board Intelligence provides management reporting software and a board portal that unlocks your business’s performance and governance.

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In this bonus episode of Inside the Strategy Room, we feature an interview with OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar from the At the Edge podcast. Sarah joined our senior partner, Lareina Yee, to discuss how to lead through this era of intense technological change and what it means for the future of the finance function and business leadership.  

Our At the Edge podcast features conversations with creative leaders and pioneers who demystify cutting-edge technologies and share strategies for companies to capture big opportunities. 
 

Related insights  

At the Edge podcast 

Keeping artificial intelligence real 

Cisco Systems CFO on M&A, geopolitics, and the emerging AI opportunity  

Managing the risks around generative AI 

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The way leaders talk about the goals and process of transformation has a profound influence on outcomes.

The process of transformation can challenge any organization that undertakes it. In this episode, McKinsey transformation experts John Parsons, Dominic Skerritt, and Mary Lass Stewart talk about the role of communication to engaging and keeping team members on board and energized throughout the process. The trio recently co-authored an article on the subject, Going all in: Why employee ‘will’ can make or break transformations.

Related insights

How to communicate effectively in times of uncertainty

To deliver a transformation’s full potential, put the front line first

The powerful role financial incentives can play in a transformation

How many people are really needed in a transformation?

McKinsey Insights on Transformation

McKinsey Transformation on LinkedIn

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Senior partners Alex D’Amico, Michael Birshan, and Andy West join us for a conversation about the latest developments in the field of strategy. They discuss how generative AI will change strategy creation, the importance of developing distinctive insights as part of the strategy process, and how to avoid social dynamics from derailing your organization’s best-laid plans.

Related insights:

• Strategic courage in an age of volatility
• Tying short-term decisions to long-term strategy
• Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick
• Eight shifts that will take your strategy into high gear
• The social side of strategy
• The board’s role in strategy

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We're joined by Charles Conn and Rob McLean, AM, the co-authors of The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times.

Charles is an investor, environmentalist, and entrepreneur. He co-founded Monograph, a venture firm, and was previously CEO of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford. He is the Board Chair of Patagonia and sits on The Nature Conservancy European Council. He was the founding CEO of Ticketmaster-Citysearch and a partner at McKinsey & Company. 

Rob is a Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Company, a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy in Australia and Asia, and a Director of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic foundation. He is the former Dean of the Australian Graduate School of Management. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Rob and Charles' books can be found here: https://bulletproofproblemsolving.com/

You can also listen to their previous interview on Inside the Strategy Room or read the edited transcript on McKinsey.com. 

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Corporate boards face increased complexity today, with heightened geopolitical risk key among the concerns they must consider as they guide the companies they serve. In this episode, three experts on boards and geopolitics discuss how boards can best adapt to this new normal. Dominic Barton is board chair for the metals and mining company Rio Tinto, and also for the impact investment firm Leapfrog investments. He's also a senior advisor and partner at the AI investment firm Radical Ventures. Previously, Dom served as Canada’s ambassador to China. And before that he was a McKinsey senior partner who served as our global managing partner for three terms. Frithjof Lund is a senior partner who leads our Board Services Practice as well as our Norway office. He helps boards of directors improve corporate governance. Ziad Haider is a partner and our global director of geopolitical risk. He is based in our Singapore office, and counsels CXOs and boards on how to build out their capabilities to better understand, monitor, and mitigate geopolitical risk.

Related insights

Eye in the sky: Launching a geopolitical risk unit

Building geopolitical resilience: The people agenda

Geopolitical risk: Navigating a world in flux

Helping boards manage geopolitical risk with Jon Huntsman Jr.

How global companies can manage geopolitical risk

How three global companies navigate geopolitical risk to build resilience

Can your company remain global and if so, how?

Black swans, gray rhinos, and silver linings: Anticipating geopolitical risks (and openings)

McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

McKinsey Geopolitics

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