Best McKinsey People Podcasts (2024)

1
685: The New Rules of Persuasion (with Founder and CEO of Triggers, Leslie Zane) 46:45

26m ago46:45

46:45

Welcome to an interview with an award-winning marketer, TEDx speaker and authority in harnessing the instinctive mind to accelerate brand and business growth, founder and CEO of Triggers, Leslie Zane. Leslie is the author of The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life. In her book, Leslie shows that to grow a brand, busi…

1
684: The Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth (with Stanford Professor and Venture Capital Expert, Ilya Strebulaev) 53:32

15m ago53:32

53:32

Welcome to an interview with the coauthor of The Venture Mindset: How to Make Smarter Bets and Achieve Extraordinary Growth, Ilya Strebulaev. This book offers a transformative playbook for delivering results in a rapidly changing world from a top Stanford professor and a technology executive. Packed with entertaining stories and scientific precisio…

1
683: Navigating the New Data Rules (with Cristina Alaimo) 57:21

2d ago57:21

57:21

Welcome to an interview with the coauthor of Data Rules: Reinventing the Market Economy (Acting with Technology), Cristina Alaimo. In Data Rules, Cristina Alaimo and Jannis Kallinikos establish a social science framework for analyzing the unprecedented social and economic restructuring brought about by data. Working at the intersection of informati…

1
36: Self-development realism 12:25

2d ago12:25

12:25

This episode is about self-development realism. To me, self-development realism is acknowledging the *reality* of your limitations when it comes to implementing ideas from podcasts, on instagram, or books. You can consume as much self-development content as you’d like, but I don’t want you to get frustrated or overwhelmed by it. I strongly believe …

1
682: Why Startups Fail (with Google’s Martin Gonzalez and Josh Yellin) 54:33

4d ago54:33

54:33

Welcome to an interview with Martin Gonzalez and Josh Yellin. Martin is the creator of Google’s Effective Founders Project and a frequent lecturer at Stanford, Wharton and INSEAD. Josh co-founded Google's first Startup Accelerator and is presently an organizational leader at Google DeepMind. Josh and Martin are the authors of The Bonfire Moment: Br…

1
Workers wanted: How to fill the skilled-trade shortage 25:07

8d ago25:07

25:07

Plumbers, carpenters, builders, and engineers are in short supply. What will it take to meet the demand for these skills in the United States and globally? In this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Brooke Weddle and Bryan Hancock join host Lucia Rahilly to discuss how to attract—and keep—people in these roles and drive productivity. The following i…

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681: Leadership Lessons from His Year of Living Constitutionally (with AJ Jacobs) 49:21

9d ago49:21

49:21

Welcome to an interview with the author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning, AJ Jacobs. In The Year of Living Constitutionally, A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution. He as…

1
680: How to Tap the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Breakthroughs in Leadership and Life (with Former Monitor Associate partner and Chief Learning Officer of Teach For America. Co-CEO of Transcend ... 49:24

19d ago49:24

49:24

Welcome to an interview with the author of Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs In Leadership and Life, Jeff Wetzler. In this book, Jeff offers a hands-on, surprisingly effective way to find out what others really think, know, and feel. Jeff brings you a powerful method called The Ask Approach™, based on…

1
679: Navigating Career Transitions in a Complex World with Former Olympic Coach & Innovation Expert, Pete Steinberg 51:00

16d ago51:00

51:00

Welcome to an interview with the author of Leadership Shock: Using Authenticity to Navigate the Hidden Dangers of Career Success, Pete Steinberg. Leadership Shock teaches readers to view leadership as an adaptive, continuous process rather than a fixed set of behaviors. By regularly re-evaluating their leadership models, professionals at any level …

1
35: Agitation 29:57

16d ago29:57

29:57

In this episode, I talk about agitation. If you're thinking: "What the heck is agitation, and why does it matter?" - well, this episode is for you. I'll start by defining the term - and make the case for why you should definitely care. (A lil' hint: ever struggled to stop doing something that doesn't serve you?) Then I'll share two general principl…

1
678: Can you become immune to burnout? UPenn Burnout Expert Reveals What Stress-Resilient People Have in Common 48:08

18d ago48:08

48:08

Welcome to an interview with the author of Burnout Immunity: How Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Build Resilience and Heal Your Relationship with Work, Kandi Wiens. In her book, Kandi shares her research and discoveries about burnout immunity. After extreme stress caused a life-threatening health crisis in her own life, Dr. Kandi Wiens dedicat…

1
677: Negotiations in B2B sales and day to day leadership situations (with Andres Lares) 52:15

1M ago52:15

52:15

Welcome to an interview with the co-author of Persuade: The 4-Step Process to Influence People and Decisions, Andres Lares. This book deliver a concise and insightful take on how to transform your ability to persuade others regardless of the setting. Persuade is perfect for executives, managers, entrepreneurs, and other business leaders who negotia…

1
676: The Illusion of Innovation (with Founder and CEO of High Alpha Innovation, Elliott Parker) 47:17

25d ago47:17

47:17

Welcome to an interview with the author of The Illusion of Innovation: Escape "Efficiency" and Unleash Radical Progress, Elliott Parker. The Illusion of Innovation tackles the problem with innovation inside big companies, having activities that feel like innovation but lead to value destruction, not progress. This book explains why meaningful innov…

1
675: How to Be Productive (with Google's Laura Mae Martin) 53:00

1M ago53:00

53:00

Welcome to an interview with the author of Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing, Laura Mae Martin. In her book, Laura shows how to thrive no matter where you’re working, giving concrete steps that help you focus on your priorities and keep good systems, routines, and tactics in place. Uptime explains how to make technolo…

1
674: Selling Services to PE Firms with Aimably’s Founder and Stanford Grad, Claire Milligan 49:54

1M ago49:54

49:54

Welcome to an interview with Claire Milligan, a Stanford graduate turned startup founder. Claire helps businesses grow by spending smarter and reducing their cloud costs. Her target market is PE firms. In this episode, we discuss what PE firms care about, how to approach them, the biggest challenges and potential solutions they encounter, as well a…

1
673: Difference between learning and practicing (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 10:38

2M ago10:38

10:38

99% of clients misunderstand learning and practicing. At its essence, you cannot practice McKinsey cases until you learn McKinsey cases. Most candidates start of their case interview preparation by reaching out to colleagues and consultants to practice cases, not having gone through the learning steps. Without a good strategy of separating learning…

1
Why so many bad bosses still rise to the top 26:17

2M ago26:17

26:17

Narcissism. Overconfidence. Low EQ. Why do we persist in selecting for leadership traits that hamper organizational progress—and leave the right potential leaders in the wrong roles? In this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It) (Harvard Business …

1
672: AI’s brainstorming and problem-solving potential with Stanford University’s Jeremy Utley 51:47

1M ago51:47

51:47

Welcome to an interview with the co-author of the inspiring new Generative AI study, Jeremy Utley. This episode highlights the common mistakes and missed opportunities many corporate teams and individuals make when using AI. Too often, individuals treat AI as a mere search engine, leading to answers that fall short of actual solutions. Jeremy Utley…

1
671: Anecdotes on Poor Networking Calls (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 17:27

2M ago17:27

17:27

In this podcast we have listed some of the most common and most significant networking mistakes made by candidates. Since many of these have been made by clients, we have had an opportunity to discuss the mistakes, their motivations, the fall out and their response. Therefore, we can provide a comprehensive discussion on the implications of these m…

1
670: Harsh Partners (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 24:58

2M ago24:58

24:58

Being a young business analyst or associate on the receiving end of blunt and harsh feedback from a partner is a very jarring experience. However, it is also somewhat of a compliment. I never understand this very, very important point until my mentor, a senior partner, pointed this out to me when the managing partner gave me a very time about an in…

1
669: Using Storytelling In Cases (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 23:45

2M ago23:45

23:45

Storytelling is a very powerful technique to ensure someone remembers you after an interview. In fact, even when we screen people at Firmsconsulting today, we use this technique I applied as a partner. The rule is simple: if I can remember your key messages from the interview the next day, I would make you an offer. That, of course, assumes you had…

1
668: Digital strategy expert, Venkat Venkatraman. How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future 55:24

2M ago55:24

55:24

Welcome to an interview with the coauthor of Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future, Venkat Venkatraman. In Fusion Strategy, digital strategy expert Venkat Venkatraman and world-renowned innovation guru Vijay Govindarajan offer a first-of-its-kind playbook that will help industrial companies combine what they do…

1
34: A rant for people with Energetically Expensive Lives 30:14

2M ago30:14

30:14

Today’s episode is a rant that I would like to share with people who have Energetically Expensive Lives. It’s a rant that I have been sharing with some of my clients who have energetically expensive lives, and it’s a rant that I just sometimes rant to myself, as I’m taking a walk, and feel fired up about these big, mistaken ideas that people with e…

1
667: Five phrases to avoid (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 15:16

2M ago15:16

15:16

Communication and image in a case interview is governed by both what you say and how you say. It is true that how you say something tends to carry more weight. However, in some case, certain phrases should definitely be avoided because they cause much damage it is very hard to recover from them. We discuss them in this podcast. Here are some free g…

1
666: One of the world's leading experts on strategy and innovation, Vijay “VG” Govindarajan. How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future 53:59

2M ago53:59

53:59

Welcome to an interview with the coauthor of Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future. In Fusion Strategy, world-renowned innovation guru Vijay Govindarajan and digital strategy expert Venkat Venkatraman offer a first-of-its-kind playbook that will help industrial companies combine what they do best—create physica…

1
665: Never start training with McKinsey cases (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 14:56

2M ago14:56

14:56

This is a mistake common to most case interview candidates. They start with the McKinsey approach. This is a very, very bad idea. McKinsey cases are those were the interviewer leads the case. If you are only trained to do cases in this format, you will never learn how to lead a case. This is no small matter. The prompts and guides provided by a McK…

1
Rethinking organizational health for the new world of work 24:15

3M ago24:15

24:15

Yes, organizational health still drives long-term performance—but the way leaders measure and diagnose health should change, new research shows. McKinsey partners Bryan Hancock and Brooke Weddle join global editorial director Lucia Rahilly to discuss McKinsey’s recently updated Organizational Health Index: how it works, what has changed, and why it…

1
664: Chief evangelist of Canva and host of the Remarkable People podcast, Guy Kawasaki, on Lessons from the world's most remarkable people 45:34

2M ago45:34

45:34

Welcome to an interview with the author of Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference, Guy Kawasaki. In Think Remarkable, tech titan Guy Kawasaki teams up with Madisun Nuismer, producer of the Remarkable People podcast, to share invaluable knowledge from more than 40 years of working with game-changing organizations such…

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33: The Princess and the Pea (A Sensitivity Story) 28:06

3M ago28:06

28:06

Today I am sharing a concept I’ve developed over the past year or so. Like most of my best concepts, it came out of my work with my 1:1 clients. One of my clients was extremely sensitive - which was both an incredible strength for her, and also caused some real suffering. I developed this concept to help her better understand what was going on for …

1
663: Vice President of SCADpro, Paul Stonick. The Business Value of Design and The Cost of Not Innovating 50:05

2M ago50:05

50:05

Welcome to an interview with Paul Stonick, the Vice President of SCADpro—Savannah College of Art and Design’s in-house design, research, and innovation studio—which is generating innovative designs and products for the world's most influential brands, including Google, Amazon, and Apple. From sketches to on-screen visuals, SCADpro students conceptu…

1
662: Ex McKinsey and LBS lecturer, Dr. Rebecca Homkes, on high growth strategy 51:40

3M ago51:40

51:40

Welcome to an interview with the author of Survive, Reset, Thrive: Leading Breakthrough Growth Strategy in Volatile Times, Dr. Rebecca Homkes. Survive, Reset, Thrive is a playbook for leaders derived from the author's first-hand experience working with executive teams across industries from software, technology, retail, fashion, and construction th…

1
661: Networking with more junior consultants (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 11:13

3M ago11:13

11:13

We use the terms junior consultants to loosely refer to anyone at the engagement manager level and below: senior associates, associates, consultants and analysts. Our history of working with so many clients indicates that the best results occur when networking directly with partners. There is no dispute on this point given the difference in our cli…

1
660: Professor of Neuroscience, Dr. Charan Ranganath, on Memory, Neuroscience, and Discovery 51:52

3M ago51:52

51:52

Welcome to an interview with the author of Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters, Dr. Charan Ranganath. In the book, Dr. Charan radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past …

1
32: Communicating with men (advice for women + everyone else) 54:23

3M ago54:23

54:23

I’m back with my husband, Gil, to share some ideas about how to communicate with men. (This is part 2 of the series we started in Episode 31, where we discussed communicating with women.) In this episode, Gil and I share our best tips for communicating with men, and pull back the curtain of our marriage a bit, too. You’ll hear: + Why it never worke…

1
659: How to Network with a Senior Partner (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 12:58

3M ago12:58

12:58

Networking with a partner is counter-intuitive. It is much easier to network with a McKinsey / BCG partner for at least four reasons. First, partners always return emails. Second, partners are generally willing to take a call just to explore your profile. Third, partners are less hung up on things like degrees etc. since they look deeper at a profi…

1
658: Former President of Nike's Consumer-Direct Division and Former Executive Vice President and COO of PepsiCo Discuss Strategies from Women Who've Made It—Christiana Smith Shi and Grace Puma 49:39

3M ago49:39

49:39

Welcome to an interview with the authors of Career Forward: Strategies from Women Who've Made It, Christiana Smith Shi and Grace Puma. In this book, the authors challenge negative stereotypes about female ambition, and urge women to be bold, follow their dreams, and seize the chance to lead “big” lives. The secret is to focus on career first, job s…

1
657: Using Modern Technology to Scale Your Nonprofit Organization and Grow Your Community (with CEO of Churchome, David Kroll) 41:04

3M ago41:04

41:04

Welcome to an interview with the Chief Executive Officer for Churchome, David Kroll. In this episode, David shares his career journey and transition from investment banking to becoming a pastor, highlighting his exposure to extreme success and the realization that money doesn't equate to happiness. David found personal freedom and alignment by purs…

1
31: Communicating with women (advice for men + everyone else) 51:11

4M ago51:11

51:11

In coaching my male clients, I realized that there were some common challenges that they encountered, in communicating with their female partners — and that I could often help them communicate far more effectively! Truthfully, I hesitated to make this episode. I don't always love making gender-based generalizations - but I also felt like this was…

1
It’s cool to be kind: The value of empathy at work 34:21

4M ago34:21

34:21

Empathy: we all aspire to it, but does it really make a performance difference in the workplace? Definitely, according to Jamil Zaki, a research psychologist at Stanford University and author of The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World (Crown, June 2019). In this episode of McKinsey Talks Talent, Jamil joins McKinsey talent leade…

1
656: Winning with Data Science (with Harvard grad and Cerebral data science team leader, Akshay Swaminathan) 42:59

3M ago42:59

42:59

Welcome to an interview with the author of Winning with Data Science: A Handbook for Business Leaders. This book is a compelling and comprehensive guide to data science, emphasizing its real-world business applications and focusing on how to collaborate productively with data science teams. The book follows the stories of Kamala and Steve, two prof…

1
655: Taking resume feedback (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 14:33

4M ago14:33

14:33

Taking resume feedback is one of the most fundamental steps as you begin your application process and case interview preparation. If done badly, no matter how well you practice for cases, you will not get the interview. Feedback refers to two parts. First, is the philosophy around how you collect the feedback. Second, is the physical steps you take…

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654: What's LOVE Got to Do With Leadership? (with Visionary Business Leader and Best Selling Author, Mark A. Mears) 46:14

4M ago46:14

46:14

Welcome to an interview with the author of The Purposeful Growth Revolution: 4 Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder. In this book, you will learn to apply 4 holistic and revolutionary processes found in nature to help individuals, teams, and organizations find purpose, fulfill their true growth potential, and leave a living legacy—what Mears …

1
30: Julie’s Story 55:36

4M ago55:36

55:36

On today’s podcast, I’m sharing an interview I did with my former client, Julie. Our coaching work together covered many things – including a deep dive into decision-making + how to get better at it. In our conversation, Julie and I talk about: + The list of super-useful thoughts she cultivated about decision-making (which you should absolutely ste…

1
653: Stressful interview situations (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 15:45

4M ago15:45

15:45

This podcast examines the typical tell-tale signs candidates show when placed under stress in a case interview and offers suggestions on how to manage these situations. The key to managing this problem is not to reduce the stress, which may be impossible to do, but to change the way you show your stress. We also provide anecdotes on how our own cli…

1
652: Three phrases to annoy an interviewer (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 10:12

4M ago10:12

10:12

There are three phrases which create trouble in an interview: “I think that…” and “In my opinion…” and “But, if I look at my friends…” Not only are they defensive, and arrogant, they are also clear indicators where you are struggling in a case interview. When you use them in the wrong context, as explained in this podcast, they will make it difficu…

1
651: Invisible presentation technique (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 11:55

4M ago11:55

11:55

Solving a case while talking an interviewer through your thinking (written or otherwise) is, for the interviewer, a little like trying to understand a presentation without seeing the slides. Or at the very least seeing untidy slides – that is, assuming your working sheets are messy. Here we talk through the anatomy of a case dialogue pointing out k…

1
650: Confidence and content traps in case interviews (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 10:19

4M ago10:19

10:19

This podcast is about the impact of confidence on cases and the importance of avoiding the content trap. We use simple ratios to explain why you need to be confident and how the content-trap sinks many candidates. The content trap occurs when a candidate tends to have poor knowledge of the first principles of cases and rather relies on completing a…

1
29: “What actually happens during a life coaching engagement?” 26:07

5M ago26:07

26:07

One of the most common questions I hear is some form of: so what actually *happens* on a coaching engagement? This is a great question. After all, life coaching is a relatively new profession, so many people aren’t familiar with it. And different coaches run their coaching engagements in different ways. Today I answer this question in two ways: f…

1
649: FLUKE: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters (with professor of global politics at University College London, Brian Klaas) 45:34

4M ago45:34

45:34

Welcome to an interview with the author of Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters, Brian Klaas. In Fluke, myth-shattering social scientist Brian Klaas deep-dives into the phenomenon of randomness, unpicking our neat and tidy storybook version of events to reveal a reality far wilder and more fascinating than we have dared to conside…

1
648: Structure fails at 60% McKinsey cases (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics) 11:40

5M ago11:40

11:40

At least 90% of aspiring management consultants assume that all McKinsey et al cases MUST be solved with frameworks. That is a dangerous myth. At least 60% of all McKinsey full cases (we are not referring to brainstorming, estimates, etc) cannot be solved with structures and you will fail if you used structures to solve them. In this podcast, we us…

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