McKinsey Talks Talent

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Latest episodes

• Leading when change feels threatening

  September 29, 2026 · 33 min

  Leaders love to talk about resistance to change, but, as McKinsey research shows, resistance isn’t the full story. Fear of loss is a huge part of transformation, too, when roles, routines, and relationships are meaningfully redefined. On…

• Your AI agents need performance management, too

  August 26, 2026 · 30 min

  Agents: Everybody’s got them. But who’s managing them? And what happens to the human talent working alongside them—and being asked to show up differently as a result? “The rise of AI doesn’t mean we all suddenly devolve our…

• Is the AI productivity story at a turning point?

  July 31, 2026 · 31 min

  "Is my generation doomed?" That’s what one Stanford graduating senior asked Professor Erik Brynjolfsson, economist and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The professor had seen the data, so he didn’t dismiss the question. But as…

• What it takes to build “genius at scale”

  April 29, 2026 · 17 min

  That elusive Eureka moment: Every leader strives for it—but it can’t be forced. And as Harvard Business School Professor Linda Hill argues in her new book Genius at Scale: How Great Leaders Drive Innovation (Harvard Business Publishing…

• The problem with ‘bringing your whole self to work’

  March 25, 2026 · 24 min

  Being yourself at work has become a corporate mantra—and it certainly started in a well-meaning way. But it can also have significant downsides, according to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of Don’t Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is…

• US manufacturing’s next test: Building a workforce for a new era

  February 27, 2026 · 22 min

  Manufacturing is back at the center of the US economic agenda. Yet the sector faces a persistent talent shortage—and to bridge it, leaders will need to rethink how they attract, train, and retain a new generation of manufacturing…

• How smart people end up in the wrong careers

  January 29, 2026 · 24 min

  Many high performers think they’re doing everything right—yet still feel somehow wrong about their day-to-day. And the advent of AI means work-related decision-making is more complex than ever. As job uncertainty ups the ante, more…

• What leaders can learn from Homeboy Industries

  December 10, 2025 · 12 min

  In the US, many companies still struggle to fill essential roles. What if part of the solution involves talent that has traditionally been overlooked? Take Johanna Carbajal, who spent her adolescence shuttling between juvenile hall…