This is a special episode of The McKinsey Podcastcovering last week’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. McKinsey Senior Partners Becca Coggins and Shelley Stewart III speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what was top of mind for CEOs—from geopolitics to leading through the AI moment to the faster-than-expected arrival of humanoid robots at scale.

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

This is a special episode of <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-podcast">The McKinsey Podcast</a> covering last week&rsquo;s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. McKinsey Senior Partners <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/becca-coggins">Becca Coggins</a> and <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/shelley-stewart">Shelley Stewart III</a> speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what was top of mind for CEOs&mdash;from geopolitics to leading through the AI moment to the faster-than-expected arrival of humanoid robots at scale.
Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

The McKinsey Podcast, our new flagship podcast series, takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey & Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.

The McKinsey Podcast features conversations with experts from global management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company, focusing on the issues that matter most in business and management.

The McKinsey Podcast

Our flagship series The McKinsey Podcast takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey & Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.

Our flagship series The McKinsey Podcast takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey &amp; Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.

Special episode: 2026 Davos highlights

Yes, AI is astonishing: fast, powerful,and learning every day. But even as leaders strike up new pilots across their organizations, most still struggle to translate experimentation into enterprise value—and now, agentic AI is raising the stakes. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Alexis Krivkovich speaks with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what it will take to build an “agentic organization”—from reimagining workflows to reshaping leadership roles, skills, and culture for a future where humans increasingly operate above the loop.

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

Yes, AI is astonishing: fast, powerful, and learning every day. But even as leaders strike up new pilots across their organizations, most still struggle to translate experimentation into enterprise value&mdash;and now, agentic AI is raising the stakes. In this episode of <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-podcast">The McKinsey Podcast</a>, McKinsey <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/alexis-krivkovich">Senior Partner Alexis Krivkovich</a> speaks with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what it will take to build an &ldquo;agentic organization&rdquo;&mdash;from reimagining workflows to reshaping leadership roles, skills, and culture for a future where humans increasingly operate above the loop.
Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

AI is everywhere. The agentic organization isn’t—yet

Companies backed by private equity (PE) tend to transform faster and more often than public or family-owned firms do, leading to consistently outperforming their peers. Marla Capozzi and Sacha Ghai, McKinsey leaders, researched nearly 300 CEOs across PE and private-capital companies to define their tactics and share their best practices with others. They and their coauthors published the findings in a recent Harvard Business Review article, and in this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, they speak with Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro about lessons from PE that any company can implement.

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

Companies backed by private equity (PE) tend to transform faster and more often than public or family-owned firms do, leading to consistently outperforming their peers. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/marla-capozzi">Marla Capozzi</a> and <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/sacha-ghai">Sacha Ghai</a>, McKinsey leaders, researched nearly 300 CEOs across PE and private-capital companies to define their tactics and share their best practices with others. They and their coauthors published the findings in a recent <a href="https://hbr.org/2025/11/what-every-company-can-learn-from-private-equity">Harvard Business Review article</a>, and in this episode of <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-podcast">The McKinsey Podcast</a>, they speak with Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro about lessons from PE that any company can implement.
Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

Leadership lessons from private equity CEOs

Many leaders can get agentic pilots rolling—but realizing ROI can mean activating thousands of AI agents enterprise-wide. Is your organization ready? “Agency isn’t a feature—it’s a transfer of decision rights,” says McKinsey Partner Rich Isenberg. “The question shifts from ‘Is the model accurate?’ to ‘Who’s accountable when the system acts?’” On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Isenberg joins Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to explore how leaders can scale AI safely, mitigate risk for autonomous systems, and build the trust required to make innovation stick.

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

Many leaders can get agentic pilots rolling&mdash;but realizing ROI can mean activating thousands of AI agents enterprise-wide. Is your organization ready? &ldquo;Agency isn&rsquo;t a feature&mdash;it&rsquo;s a transfer of decision rights,&rdquo; says McKinsey Partner <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/rich-isenberg">Rich Isenberg</a>. &ldquo;The question shifts from &lsquo;Is the model accurate?&rsquo; to &lsquo;Who&rsquo;s accountable when the system acts?&rsquo;&rdquo; On this episode of <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-podcast">The McKinsey Podcast</a>, Isenberg joins Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to explore how leaders can scale AI safely, mitigate risk for autonomous systems, and build the trust required to make innovation stick.
Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

Special episode: 2026 Davos highlights

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