The chairman, CEO, and co-founder of the global investment management firm Blackstone traces his journey as a business leader, financial innovator, and philanthropist.

151. Voices of CEO excellence: Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman

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The need for board-level strategic conversations on geopolitical risk is urgent. To discuss how boards can guide companies through an increasingly complex geopolitical environment, we’re joined by Jon Huntsman Jr. Jon is a former US governor and diplomat who has spent nearly two decades in US public service at the state, national, and international levels. He sits on the boards of Ford, Mobileye, and Chevron, and is also the Vice Chairman of MasterCard. We're also joined by Ziad Haider, a partner in our Singapore office who co-leads our Geopolitics Practice, and Celia Huber, a senior partner in our Bay Area location who leads our North American Board Services Practice.

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

How global companies can manage geopolitical risk 
Boards can guide companies through geopolitical headwinds
Geopolitical resilience: The new board imperative 
How three global companies navigate geopolitical risk to build resilience Discover our latest insights and join more than 90,000 influential professionals who are part of our LinkedIn community.: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

205. Helping boards manage geopolitical risk with Jon Huntsman Jr.

Midcap companies have vast opportunities to increase their performance and scale if they reinvent how they work. 

Midsize companies don’t dominate the headlines and investor attention the way large corporations do, but they represent more than 40 percent of the global workforce and account for approximately one-third of most economies’ GDP. 

However, the productivity of small and midsize businesses is only half that of large companies, and lower in emerging economies. These businesses have vast opportunities to increase their performance and scale.
In this episode, we discuss how midcaps can seize the opportunity to transform themselves and reach a significantly higher level of performance.
Joining us are Zakir Gaibi, a senior partner in McKinsey’s Johannesburg office, Mauricio Janauskas a senior partner in the Santiago office, and Kedar Naik is a partner in the Brussels office. You can read their article Unleashing the power of midcap companies on McKinsey.com
Join the McKinsey Transformation community on LinkedIn. Discover our latest insights and join more than 90,000 influential professionals who are part of our LinkedIn community.: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

204. The transformation imperative for midcap companies

Generative AI poses both risks and opportunities. Ida Kristensen and Oliver Bevan join us to discuss how we can mitigate the former while moving to capture the latter from day one.
Ida Kristensen is a senior partner in our New York office. She coleads the Risk & Resilience Practice and advises leading financial institutions on cybersecurity, strategies for risk management, regulatory compliance, and operational improvement.
Oliver Bevan is a partner in our Chicago office and a leader in our Risk and Resilience and Technology Practices. He leads our client work at the intersection of technology and risk, focusing on generative AI, data privacy, third party management, and trust and safety.
Ida and Oliver’s article, Implementing generative AI with speed and safety is available on McKinsey.com

Related reading:
The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier
A generative AI reset: Rewiring to turn potential into value in 2024 Discover our latest insights and join more than 90,000 influential professionals who are part of our LinkedIn community.: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

203. Managing the risks around generative AI

M&A; dealmakers have been on a wild ride. From the pandemic-fueled rout in 2020 to 2021’s record-breaking recovery, followed by a steep decline in 2023, the global M&A; market has offered something of a masterclass in volatility. In this episode, we are joined by senior partners Jake Henry, Mieke Van Oostende, and Andy West to discuss the trends in the global M&A; environment in 2024 and what they mean for business leaders. Jake and Mieke recently published a report on McKinsey.com, Top M&A; trends in 2024: Blueprint for success in the next wave of deals, which forms the basis for our discussion.
The report also includes a compendium of articles analyzing deal activity in the chemicals, tech media and telecom, life sciences, financial services, consumer goods, and transport and logistics industries in 2023. 
  Discover our latest insights and join more than 90,000 influential professionals who are part of our LinkedIn community.: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

202. Charting your M&A course for 2024

Private equity firms have a well-earned reputation for elevating the performance of the companies they invest in. A cornerstone of their strategy is a relentless pursuit of operational excellence to drive efficiency and productivity. In this episode, we analyze what public company CEOs can glean from the private equity playbook to enhance their own company's performance. Our guests are John Kelleher and Radhika Ray.   
John is a senior partner in our Private Equity Special Operations group and serves as an interim in-house executive helping companies execute large PE-style transformations. John has served in multiple executive roles in the private equity industry—including as CEO—and is co-founder of the PE-CEO Alpha Institute, a partnership between McKinsey and Harvard Business School to train private equity portfolio company CEOs. 
Radhika is a partner in our Private Equity group and has over 15 years of experience in the private equity sector. She helps our clients with large-scale transformations and oversees the service line, implementing rapid labor productivity improvements.

 Discover our latest insights and join more than 90,000 influential professionals who are part of our LinkedIn community.: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/ See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

151. Voices of CEO excellence: Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman

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