Confidante. Consultant. Convener. The chief of staff (COS) role sits at the intersection of leadership and support. It also comes with enormous responsibility, opportunity, and influence. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partner Andrew Goodman joins editorial director Roberta Fusaro to discuss the highs and lows of this consequential job—and how to do it right.

After, meeting with CEOs felt daunting when McKinsey senior partner Carolyn Dewar started her consultancy career until she realized: CEOs are people, too.

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There is a dramatic difference in health, economic, and social outcomes for Black US residents compared with their White neighbors. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, JP Julien, a McKinsey partner and leader in the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility, joins editorial director Roberta Fusaro to discuss McKinsey’s recently published report on the state of Black residents, which outlines the realities for Black residents in four geographic categories—the urban core, the suburbs and exurbs, the mixed middle, and low growth and rural areas—and what can be done now to ameliorate the racial disparity found in these locations."

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Geopolitics, the women's health gap, economic inclusion, and technology are a few of the themes highlighted at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos. Hear McKinsey senior partners Tracy Francis and Sven Smit share their analysis of the most significant takeaways from Davos in this special, bonus episode with global editorial director Lucia Rahilly.

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For years, women have been fighting for faster career advancement and more equitable representation at work. On this week’s episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partners Alexis Krivkovich and Lareina Yee talk with global editorial director Lucia Rahilly about the 2023 Women in the Workplace report—and specifically, our newest research on where progress is happening, where it’s not, and what leaders need to do differently to accelerate the pace of change.

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Though the banking industry has had its best period since 2007, banks still need to acknowledge recent structural and macroeconomic shifts and look for ways to evolve with markets. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partner Alex Edlich and partner Reinhard Höll join editorial director Roberta Fusaro to discuss the findings of McKinsey’s Global Banking Annual Review. They outline the new challenges banks are facing and suggest how leaders can address those challenges.

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What is a geek? What geek norms are associated with success?  Andrew McAfee will answer these questions and more. He’s a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of the new book, The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results. This is a guest episode from McKinsey’s Forward Thinking podcast, with co-host and McKinsey partner Michael Chui.

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Across the United States, consumers are continuing to spend, but they’re not opening their wallets too wide. Joining us are McKinsey partners Colleen Baum and Tamara Charm who say retailers that offer personalized promotions, same-day delivery, and “buy now, pay later” plans are more likely to capture cautious consumers’ holiday spending. Learn more about US consumers’ holiday shopping behaviors and expectations on this guest episode of the McKinsey on Consumer and Retail podcast, hosted by Monica Toriello. 

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We’ve all heard lots about cloud technology, but, according to new McKinsey research, only 20 to 30 percent of industries are using it regularly and at scale. On today’s episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partners Mark Gu and James Kaplan share findings from the report, “In search of cloud value: Can generative AI transform cloud ROI?” They talk about why cloud technology is essential in business, what’s holding companies back from getting the most value from their cloud programs, and the steps they can take to improve their cloud capabilities. But first—did you realize that six words are fundamental to your company’s success? Scott Keller, McKinsey senior partner and author of CEO Excellence, tells us more.

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

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If productivity is down in your organization, it may be a sign that at least some employees are unmotivated and unhappy—and that other employees are feeding on that dissatisfaction, further eroding productivity and creating attrition. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey senior partner Aaron De Smet and partner Angelika Reich talk about McKinsey’s latest research on employee productivity and their perspectives on a few types of workers, ranging from those who bring fellow employees down to those who raise them up.

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

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“Revenge travel.” It’s what a lot of people are doing these days–hitting the runways in big numbers to make up for time lost during the pandemic. McKinsey recently partnered with Skift, a leading travel industry news site, to write a report about travel in the age of AI. McKinsey partners Alex Cosmas and Vik Krishnan join global editorial director Lucia Rahilly to discuss a new report on travel in the age of AI: what the technology’s promise and pitfalls are and what it may mean for the travel industry overall.

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

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