Europe’s productivity challenge is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Strained supply chains, rising costs, and intensifying global competition are putting mounting pressure on operations leaders to act decisively. Without bold action, Europe risks falling behind for decades to come. So what will it take for European leaders to reignite the continent’s productivity growth?

In this episode, host Christian Johnson speaks with Dr. Ruth Heuss, senior partner and co-leader of McKinsey’s global operations practice and Dr. Jan Mischke, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute. Together, they discuss the technologies reshaping operations today—and where Europe still has an opportunity to lead.

McKinsey Talks Operations offers more insights at the intersection of strategy and execution. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore upcoming events and thought leadership from McKinsey’s Operations Practice and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations.  

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The pace of innovation is reshaping industries at an unprecedented speed, but technology alone is not a source of advantage. To compete in a rapidly evolving global landscape, organizations must move beyond isolated tech deployments and embrace end-to-end process transformation. The real question for 2026 is: how can leaders rewire their operations to capture the full value of what’s possible?

In this episode, host Daphne Luchtenberg speaks with McKinsey senior partners Dan Swan and Ruth Heuss, Global Co-Conveners of McKinsey’s Operations Practice, about what it takes to turn operational excellence into sustained competitive advantage, and the critical questions operations leaders should be asking now.

McKinsey Talks Operations offers more insights at the intersection of strategy and execution. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore upcoming events and thought leadership from McKinsey’s Operations Practice and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations. 

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Agentic AI is reshaping banking operations, enabling systems to act, decide, and learn at scale. Leading banks are redesigning their operating models to unlock new sources of value, improve resilience, and accelerate performance. As the gap between leaders and laggards widens, those who hesitate risk falling behind.

In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, Daphne Luchtenberg is joined by Senior Partner David Deninzon and Partner Abhilash Sridharan to explore how agentic AI is transforming banking operations today. Together, they discuss where banks are seeing the greatest impact, what it takes to rewire core processes and decision-making, and how leaders can position their organizations to capture the full potential of this rapidly advancing technology.

McKinsey Talks Operations has much more content to offer on the Operations topics that connect strategy with lasting success. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice, and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations 

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Across industries, organizations are asking more of their COOs: to drive efficiency, unlock growth, build resilience, lead cross-functional change, and help shape the business agenda. But what does it really take to excel as a modern operations leader today?  

In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host Daphne Luchtenberg speaks with McKinsey partners Darryl Piasecki and Tony Gambell, who lead the firm’s global COO Excellence initiative. Together, they break down the essential components of a high-impact COO, from a clear vision grounded in business strategy to an executable plan, strong stakeholder relationships, the right talent, and a personal operating model that enables sustained performance. 

McKinsey Talks Operations has much more content to offer on the Operations topics that connect strategy with lasting success. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com.

to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice, and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations 

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2025 marked a pivotal moment for operations. Generative AI, automation, and advanced analytics moved from experimentation to real impact—and reshaped how organizations run. 
 
In this special year-end episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, hosts Daphne Luchtenberg and Christian Johnson reflect on the defining shifts of the year, from deploying agentic AI and redesigning end-to-end processes to scaling digital twins, robotics, and data-driven sustainability. Against a backdrop of geopolitical volatility and supply chain disruption, leaders redefined what operational excellence really means. 
 
Join us to revisit standout conversations from across operations to explore how organizations unlocked productivity, accelerated innovation, and built more resilient, intelligence-enabled operations. 
 
McKinsey Talks Operations offers much more on the forces shaping the future of the function. Visit McKinsey Talks Operations to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice and join our community. Connect with us on LinkedIn.

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Improving operations, generating revenue and implementing the right technology have all become key priorities for customer care professionals over the last decade. Organizations must find customer service operating models that scale, whilst maintaining customer satisfaction. In an evolving landscape where the leaders are those making significant strides in agentic AI adoption, one question remains: can an agentic AI voice agent truly be empathetic?  

 In this episode, host Daphne Luchtenberg is joined by Eric Buesing, Partner at McKinsey & Company and Gadi Shamia, CEO and Co-founder of Replicant. Together, they discuss the evolving landscape of customer care and explore how agentic AI is transforming contact centres.   

 McKinsey Talks Operations has much more content to offer on the Operations topics that connect strategy with lasting success. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice, and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations. 

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Organizations today are under constant pressure to do more with less—improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing experiences. Process intelligence is emerging as a game changer, revealing how work truly happens inside organizations and uncovering new opportunities for impact. 

In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host Daphne Luchtenberg is joined by Mike Kaufmann, healthcare leader, board member, and former CEO of a Fortune 15 company, and Steven Eklund, McKinsey partner specializing in service operations. Together, they explore how process intelligence is transforming healthcare and service industries—illuminating inefficiencies, accelerating decision making, and driving measurable results. 

From diagnosing operational bottlenecks to enabling smarter automation, the discussion dives into how leaders can harness data-driven insights to redesign workflows, improve outcomes, and build more resilient organizations. 

Tune in to discover how process intelligence can help leaders see their operations in a whole new light—and take performance to the next level. 

McKinsey Talks Operations has much more content to offer on the Operations topics that connect strategy with lasting success. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice, and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations 

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Innovation has long been the engine of economic growth, but today’s R&D efforts are hitting roadblocks. Progress is becoming harder, more complex, and increasingly expensive, signaling a decline in R&D productivity. So, how can leaders turn the tide and unlock the next wave of breakthroughs? 

In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host Daphne Luchtenberg is joined by Ravi Rajamani, Managing Director and Global Head of AI Blackbelts at Google Cloud, and Ben Meigs, associate partner in McKinsey's Product Development practice. Together, they explore how AI is reshaping the R&D landscape. 

From accelerating processes and enhancing design generation to streamlining validation, the discussion dives into the transformative potential of AI to reverse declining productivity. They also tackle the critical role of organizational change, fostering a culture of experimentation, and making smart AI investments to drive meaningful ROI. 

Tune in to discover how leaders can harness AI to reimagine R&D and fuel the next era of innovation.

McKinsey Talks Operations has much more content to offer on the Operations topics that connect strategy with lasting success. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice, and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations

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Aligning financial and environmental performance is no longer optional—it’s a strategic imperative for long-term success.

Organizations are under mounting pressure to reduce emissions without compromising financial performance. But navigating new regulations, volatile material costs, and global supply chain risk makes balancing cost and carbon incredibly complex.

In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host Christian Johnson speaks with Matthias Ballweg, Co-founder of Circular Republic, along with McKinsey experts Anna-Christina Fredershausen, Associate Partner in Frankfurt, and Johan Bengtsson, Partner in Stockholm. Together, they explore how companies are executing dual mission strategies—lowering costs and carbon simultaneously—while unlocking new opportunities across their value chains.

McKinsey Talks Operations has much more content to offer on the Operations topics that connect strategy with lasting success. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice, and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations

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Companies across industries are eager to adopt robots that can perform a variety of tasks with human-like flexibility. But achieving general-purpose robotics is no small feat—technical challenges like energy consumption, sim-to-real transfer, and safety concerns slow progress.

In this episode of McKinsey Talks Operations, host Daphne Luchtenberg is joined by McKinsey partner Ani Kelkar to discuss how advances in embodied AI, foundation models, and robotics design are breaking new ground. As robots learn to perceive, decide, and act in real-world environments.

McKinsey Talks Operations has much more content to offer on the Operations topics that connect strategy with lasting success. Visit www.McKinseyTalksOperations.com to explore events and insights from McKinsey’s Operations Practice, and join the McKinsey Talks Operations community. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-operations

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