In this episode of The Committed Innovator, we talk with John McDonald, the founder and CEO of Mercer Street Hospitality, which owns Lure Fishbar in New York City and Chicago, among other restaurants and bars. McDonald spoke with McKinsey Senior Partner and innovation leader Erik Roth about maintaining success and equilibrium in the notoriously difficult hospitality industry.

Related insights:

What’s on the menu? Revenue growth techniques for restaurants

Cooking up extraordinary growth for restaurants during a downturn

Taking fear out of innovation

How to take the measure of innovation

Fielding high-performing innovation teams

Explore our collection of Committed Innovator episode transcripts on McKinsey.com: Strategic Growth & Innovation 

In this episode of The Committed Innovator, we talk with John McDonald, the founder and CEO of Mercer Street Hospitality, which owns Lure Fishbar in New York City and Chicago, among other restaurants and bars. McDonald spoke with McKinsey Senior Partner and innovation leader Erik Roth about maintaining success and equilibrium in the notoriously difficult hospitality industry.
Related insights:
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/whats-on-the-menu-revenue-growth-techniques-for-restaurants">What&rsquo;s on the menu? Revenue growth techniques for restaurants</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/cooking-up-extraordinary-growth-for-restaurants-during-a-downturn">Cooking up extraordinary growth for restaurants during a downturn</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/taking-fear-out-of-innovation">Taking fear out of innovation</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-to-take-the-measure-of-innovation">How to take the measure of innovation</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/fielding-high-performing-innovation-teams">Fielding high-performing innovation teams</a>
Explore our collection of Committed Innovator episode transcripts on McKinsey.com: <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/inside-the-strategy-room-podcast/strategic-growth-and-innovation">Strategic Growth &amp; Innovation</a>&nbsp;

Unsung heroes of innovation and deeply experienced innovators discuss their triumphs, trials, and lessons learned with Erik Roth, the global leader of McKinsey's Growth and Innovation practice.

The Committed Innovator

Restaurateur John McDonald offers a grounded approach to hospitality

Adopting AI remains a challenge for most, and the fact that the world of AI is advancing so
incredibly rapidly doesn’t help. Nathaniel Whittemore aims to make both adoption and
keeping up with change a lot easier. He is the founder and CEO of Superintelligent, the AI
enablement platform that offers interactive tutorials that provide practical AI education and
clear paths to business solutions. And is also the host of the podcast, AI Daily Brief, that
seeks to keep its listeners up to date with AI as it evolves. In this episode of The Committed
Innovator, McKinsey innovation leaser and senior partner, Erik Roth, speaks with Whittemore
about the intersection between Whittemore’s two companies, the challenges of adopting and
scaling AI for enterprises, and what he sees in store for AI in 2026. This is an edited
transcript of their conversation. You can follow the series on your preferred podcast platform.

Related content

Taking fear out of innovation

The essentials of innovation

Reconfiguring work: Change management in the age of gen AI

Adopting AI remains a challenge for most, and the fact that the world of AI is advancing so incredibly rapidly doesn&rsquo;t help. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanielwhittemore">Nathaniel Whittemore</a> aims to make both adoption and keeping up with change a lot easier. He is the founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/superintelligent/">Superintelligent</a>, the AI enablement platform that offers interactive tutorials that provide practical AI education and clear paths to business solutions. And is also the host of the podcast, AI Daily Brief, that seeks to keep its listeners up to date with AI as it evolves. In this episode of The Committed Innovator, McKinsey innovation leaser and senior partner, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/erik-roth-868534/">Erik Roth</a>, speaks with Whittemore about the intersection between Whittemore&rsquo;s two companies, the challenges of adopting and scaling AI for enterprises, and what he sees in store for AI in 2026. This is an edited transcript of their conversation. You can follow the series on your preferred podcast platform.
Related content
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/taking-%20fear-out-of-innovation">Taking fear out of innovation</a> <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-%20essentials-of-innovation">The essentials of innovation</a> <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/reconfiguring-work-%20change-management-in-the-age-of-gen-ai">Reconfiguring work: Change management in the age of gen AI</a>

The Committed Innovator: Keeping up with AI and deploying it as it evolves 

Miro founder and CEO Andrey Khusid discusses the inspiration behind what started as a digital whiteboard and has evolved to become an AI innovation workspace.

Of the many challenges of innovation, enabling members of a team to share and capture their new ideas so they can build on them collaboratively, quickly, and easily is a perennial source of drag. The need to do so remotely inspired Miro founder and CEO Andrey Khusid to start the online whiteboard platform used for brainstorming, planning, and team collaboration. Today the company has evolved into an AI-driven innovation workspace. In this episode, McKinsey innovation leader Erik Roth speaks with Khusid about the problem Miro seeks to solve, the process of scaling the business, and what is next for the company in the age of generative and agentic AI.

 

Related reading:

The eight essentials of innovation 

Taking fear out of innovation

Fear factor: Overcoming human barriers to innovation

Miro founder and CEO Andrey Khusid discusses the inspiration behind what started as a digital whiteboard and has evolved to become an AI innovation workspace.
Of the many challenges of innovation, enabling members of a team to share and capture their new ideas so they can build on them collaboratively, quickly, and easily is a perennial source of drag. The need to do so remotely inspired Miro founder and CEO Andrey Khusid to start the online whiteboard platform used for brainstorming, planning, and team collaboration. Today the company has evolved into an AI-driven innovation workspace. In this episode, McKinsey innovation leader <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/erik-roth">Erik Roth</a> speaks with Khusid about the problem Miro seeks to solve, the process of scaling the business, and what is next for the company in the age of generative and agentic AI.
&nbsp;
Related reading:
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-eight-essentials-of-innovation">The eight essentials of innovation</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/taking-fear-out-of-innovation">Taking fear out of innovation</a>
<a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/fear-factor-overcoming-human-barriers-to-innovation">Fear factor: Overcoming human barriers to innovation</a>

Miro founder and CEO Andrey Khusid discusses the inspiration behind what started as a digital whiteboard and has evolved to become an AI innovation workspace.

The Committed Innovator: Enabling and harnessing the innovation process

The Ocean Cleanup's Boyan Slat discusses the promise and challenge of technological innovation at planetary scale. The problem of ocean pollution from plastic waste is growing and intractable, and can feel insurmountable to many consumers. For Dutch innovator Boyan Slat, however, not only is the problem solvable, it’s an imperative. In addition to harming habitats and wildlife, improperly discarded plastics can cause health problems for humans. The founder and CEO of Rotterdam-based The Ocean Cleanup, Slat seeks to both clean up the worst of plastic pollution in oceans, and to stop the flow of plastics from rivers into oceans. McKinsey innovation leader Erik Roth speaks with Slat about the challenges of starting and evolving The Ocean Cleanup, how the organization has found success, and what it takes to continue the effort.

<a href="https://theoceancleanup.com/">The Ocean Cleanup'</a>s Boyan Slat discusses the promise and challenge of technological innovation at planetary scale. The problem of ocean pollution from plastic waste is growing and intractable, and can feel insurmountable to many consumers. For Dutch innovator <a href="https://theoceancleanup.com/boyan-slat/">Boyan Slat</a>, however, not only is the problem solvable, it&rsquo;s an imperative. In addition to harming habitats and wildlife, improperly discarded plastics can cause health problems for humans. The founder and CEO of Rotterdam-based The Ocean Cleanup, Slat seeks to both clean up the worst of plastic pollution in oceans, and to stop the flow of plastics from rivers into oceans. McKinsey innovation leader <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/erik-roth">Erik Roth</a> speaks with Slat about the challenges of starting and evolving The Ocean Cleanup, how the organization has found success, and what it takes to continue the effort.

Restaurateur John McDonald offers a grounded approach to hospitality

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