Alok Sama spent years in corporate finance and as a managing director at Morgan Stanley before joining Softbank as CFO and plunging into founder-CEO Masayoshi Son’s world of high-speed, high-risk decision making. For Sama, the shift involved many eye-opening experiences, which he later shared in a memoir, titled The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble (St. Martin’s Press, 2024).

In this episode, Sama speaks with McKinsey senior partner Vik Malhotra, who is based in our New York office, where he counsels CEOs and corporate boards and serves as our firm’s Chairman of the Americas. Vik is also a co-author of the New York Times bestseller, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest. The two talked about what it was like to work with SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, negotiating deals such as Softbank’s $32 billion acquisition of the British chip design company Arm Holdings, and why Alok decided to return to school in his 50s to earn a master’s degree in fine arts.

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

The CEO as elite athlete: What business leaders can learn from modern sports

How AI is transforming strategy development

Palo Alto Networks CFO on AI, cybersecurity, and the finance leader’s mandate

The Seasons of the CFO

Achieving growth: Putting leadership mindsets and behaviors into action

McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

<a href="https://aloksama.com/">Alok Sama&nbsp;</a>spent years in corporate finance and as a managing director at Morgan Stanley before joining Softbank as CFO and plunging into founder-CEO Masayoshi Son&rsquo;s world of high-speed, high-risk decision making. For Sama, the shift involved many eye-opening experiences, which he later shared in a memoir, titled The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble (St. Martin&rsquo;s Press, 2024).
In this episode, Sama speaks with McKinsey senior partner <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/vik-malhotra">Vik Malhotra</a>, who is based in our New York office, where he counsels CEOs and corporate boards and serves as our firm&rsquo;s Chairman of the Americas. Vik is also a co-author of the New York Times bestseller, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-on-books/ceo-excellence">CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest</a>. The two talked about what it was like to work with SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, negotiating deals such as Softbank&rsquo;s $32 billion acquisition of the British chip design company Arm Holdings, and why Alok decided to return to school in his 50s to earn a master&rsquo;s degree in fine arts.
Related Insights
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-on-books/ceo-excellence">CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-ceo-as-elite-athlete-what-business-leaders-can-learn-from-modern-sports">The CEO as elite athlete: What business leaders can learn from modern sports</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-ai-is-transforming-strategy-development">How AI is transforming strategy development</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/palo-alto-networks-cfo-on-ai-cybersecurity-and-the-finance-leaders-mandate">Palo Alto Networks CFO on AI, cybersecurity, and the finance leader&rsquo;s mandate</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-four-seasons-of-the-cfo">The Seasons of the CFO</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/achieving-growth-putting-leadership-mindsets-and-behaviors-into-action">Achieving growth: Putting leadership mindsets and behaviors into action</a>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-corporate-finance/posts/?feedView=all">McKinsey Strategy &amp; Corporate Finance on LinkedIn</a>

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The world is moving faster, and as upheaval becomes the norm, vast business opportunities will be within the grasp of the extraordinary few. &nbsp;But it takes bold people and courageous approaches to seize those opportunities and create value.
In each episode of our weekly podcast, we interview the world&rsquo;s highest-performing CEOs, CFOs, innovators, and McKinsey experts and discuss how they build the courage, clarity, conviction, and cohesion that allow their businesses to win by moving faster than the world around them.&nbsp;

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