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.

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, <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/andrew-mcafee/the-geek-way/9781035026173" data-attrib-id="link-45a8fa09-6c30-4cc7-a379-68366d8c8f5a">The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results</a>. This is a guest episode from McKinsey’s Forward Thinking podcast, with co-host and McKinsey partner Michael Chui.

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.

What business can learn from "geeks"

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.

Trust in the age of agents

McKinsey research has found that while many leaders believe they’ve adopted and implemented productive mindsets for growth, those attitudes and ambitions don’t always translate into the behaviors and actions necessary to achieve their growth objectives. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro speaks with McKinsey Senior Partners Greg Kelly and Jill Zucker about how leading organizations translate growth intent into sustained performance. In part, it involves making clear bets, allocating resources deliberately, and staying committed through uncertainty.

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

McKinsey research has found that while many leaders believe they&rsquo;ve adopted and implemented productive mindsets for growth, those attitudes and ambitions don&rsquo;t always translate into the behaviors and actions necessary to achieve their growth objectives. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro speaks with McKinsey Senior Partners Greg Kelly and Jill Zucker about how leading organizations <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/achieving-growth-putting-leadership-mindsets-and-behaviors-into-action">translate growth intent into sustained performance</a>. In part, it involves making clear bets, allocating resources deliberately, and staying committed through uncertainty.
Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

What business can learn from "geeks"

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