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Inside the Strategy Room

Inside the Strategy Room

By: McKinsey & Company
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We talk with McKinsey partners and corporate executives on the challenges they face creating lasting strategies in a fast-changing world. We also examine the different ways these executives approach these challenges and the new and innovative ways they think of creating a vision for their enterprises.2025 McKinsey & Company Economics Management Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales Politics & Government
Episodes
  • 258. Andy Mattes on the challenges of driving M&A as CEO
    Jul 4 2025

    Mergers and acquisitions are among the more complex processes new CEOs have to learn, whether they’re in the role for the first time or taking over at a new company. Andreas “Andy” W. Mattes has navigated this multiple times in his roles as CEO of Siemens Communications, Diebold, and later of Diebold Nixdorf, and now of the laser technology company Coherent. In this discussion with M&A practice leader Jake Henry, Andy talks about the roller-coaster ride that M&A can be, and the critical M&A skills he had to learn as a CEO, including how to best deal with competing bids and making time to commune with other CEOs.

    Jake is the global co-leader of McKinsey’s M&A Practice, which includes mergers, acquisitions, integrations, joint ventures, and divestitures. He previously led our Life Sciences Practice globally, where he guided pharmaceutical and medical-technology company executives on matters of corporate strategy, growth strategy, and operational excellence for more than twenty years.

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    CEOs in M&A: Five actions only the chief executive can take

    Uncertainty in M&A: Postcards from the new normal

    M&A Annual Report: Is the wave finally arriving?

    What makes a successful CEO?

    The loneliest job? How top CEOs manage dilemmas and vulnerability

    CEO excellence: How do leaders assess their own performance?

    CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest

    The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead From the Inside Out

    McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

    McKinsey Insights on M&A

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    34 mins
  • 257. The new and timeless truths of valuation
    Jun 25 2025

    Measuring value creation is critical, as company leaders grapple with geopolitical shifts, digital disruption, and other trends affecting their businesses. Two co-authors of the new edition of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies join Sean today to discuss what they’ve learned over the course of writing and updating their book, which is now in its eighth edition, with more than 1 million copies sold worldwide

    Author Tim Koller is a core leader in our Corporate Finance Practice and a Partner in our Denver office. In more than 40 years of consulting, he’s served clients globally on corporate strategy, capital markets, acquisitions, divestitures, and resource allocation. Co-author Marc Goedhart is a senior expert in our Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice based in Amsterdam. He’s also an endowed professor of corporate valuation at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

    Related insights

    Valuation 8th edition

    Subscribe to The Valuation Practitioner newsletter on LinkedIn

    Author Talks: What’s new in Valuation?

    Bubbles pop, downturns stop

    Bias Busters: Getting both sides of the story

    Biases in decision-making: A guide for CFOs

    Is your ‘conglomerate discount’ a performance discount or a communication problem?

    Tying short-term decisions to long-term strategy

    What I learned from Daniel Kahneman

    McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance

    McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

    Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/

    See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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    50 mins
  • 256. Doug Parker, former Chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares leadership lessons
    Jun 19 2025

    As CEO challenges go, facing a global threat that is existential not just for your company but for your industry is among the worst possible. American Airlines’ former Chairman and CEO, Doug Parker, has been through this twice while leading an airline, following the 9/11 attacks in New York and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, he speaks with McKinsey Senior Partner Celia Huber about how these experiences helped him become a better leader.

    Doug Parker has served as CEO of three airlines: America West, US Airways, and American Airlines. He currently serves on the board of Qantas. Celia Huber is a McKinsey senior partner in our Bay Area office, where she leads our board services work in North America.

    Related insights

    Better together: Three ways to boost board–CEO collaboration

    The State of Aviation 2025

    Geopolitical resilience: The new board imperative

    Resilience pulse check: Harnessing collaboration to navigate a volatile world

    McKinsey Insights on Strategy & Corporate Finance

    McKinsey Insights on M&A

    McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance on LinkedIn

    Support the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/

    See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

    Show More Show Less
    38 mins

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