1160 Posts found for Source: McKinsey Quarterly

Developing a great strategy starts with changing the dynamics in your strategy room. Here’s how.

Content: Article | Authors: Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, Sven Smit | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Strategy

Don’t overlook the insight that two simple metrics can yield about the effectiveness of your R&D spending.

Content: Article | Authors: Erik Roth, Guttorm Aase, Sri Swaminathan | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Innovation

Over the years, we’ve spoken with many clients who were preparing to be interviewed for CEO roles. We’ve also debriefed with them after the event, and we’ve spoken with corporate board members on how to structure the selection process. In the spirit of sharing helpful experiences and lessons from others, here are some of the questions that boards often ask prospective CEOs. Even if the … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Corporate Governance

Getting the best people into the most important roles does not happen by chance; it requires a disciplined look at where the organization really creates value and how top talent contributes.

Content: Article | Authors: Mike Barriere, Miriam Owens, Sarah Pobereskin | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Human Resources, Management

Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball pits the collective old-time wisdom of baseball players, managers, coaches, scouts, and front offices against rigorous statistical analysis in determining which players to recruit. Analysis wins, changing the game forever. Could the same be true for recruiting top talent?

When the National Bureau of Economic Research looked into this, it pitted humans against computers for more than 300,000 hires in high-turnover jobs … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Mary C. Meaney, Scott Keller | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Human Resources

Many systems are under stress because employees harbor doubts that the core elements are equitable. A few practical steps can change that.

Content: Article | Authors: Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, Elizabeth Hioe | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Human Resources, Management

Businesses with different financial profiles can tax managers and put performance at risk. When divesting isn’t an option, here’s how to manage the conflicts.

Content: Article | Authors: Dan P. Lovallo, Tim Koller, Zane Williams | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Finance, Management, Strategy

Lack of certainty about the future is the very reason you need a strategy. Instead, embrace probability.

Content: Article | Authors: Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, Sven Smit | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Strategy

Corporate America’s gender-diversity programs are falling short. Companies need to think differently to ignite change.

Content: Multimedia Content | Authors: Alexis Krivkovich, Eric Kutcher, Simon London | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Diversity, Human Resources, Women in Business

We identified ten performance levers and, importantly, how strongly you have to pull them to make a real difference in your strategy’s success. We divided these levers into three categories: endowment, trends, and moves. Your endowment is what you start with, and the variables that matter most are your revenue (size), debt level (leverage), and past investment in R&D (innovation). Trends are the winds that … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, Sven Smit | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Strategy

Agile organizations—of any size and across industries—have five key elements in common.

Editor’s Note: I am not convinced there is a necessary distinction between agile and “machine” organizations. I think most well-run companies, whether they are completely agile or not, have adopted many of the agile trademarks set out in the article and thus I am not sure that there is an obvious distinction between good … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Management

Stretch targets succeed only when employees believe they can meet their goals if they try hard enough and that they will be rewarded if they do. There has to be a chance of failure in order to motivate employees to work harder. But if they expect failure and see targets as unrealistic, they will conclude that they won’t receive a bonus anyway and just stop … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Hugues Lavandier, Ken Schwartz, Ryan Davies | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

In our experience, a healthier stretch [target] requires companies to calibrate targets against cross-functional trade-offs. It demands that executives build trust with employees, rewarding success rather than always moving the goal up, but also that they confirm that employees succeed fairly. And it requires that there be no stigma attached to bringing out bad news, so that employees are encouraged to be transparent about their … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Hugues Lavandier, Ken Schwartz, Ryan Davies | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Management

A big part of driving marketing-led growth is getting into, and remaining part of, consumers’ initial consideration set of brands to shop. Companies can give themselves a leg up by making that a priority.

Content: Article | Authors: Barr Seitz, Bo Finneman, Dave Elzinga | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Customer Related, Marketing / Sales

Organizations are more likely to innovate and thrive when they unleash the potential of individuals and the power of self-organizing teams, says the online retailer’s CEO.

Content: Thought Leader | Authors: Aaron De Smet, Chris Gagnon, Tony Hsieh | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Innovation, Management, Organizational Behavior | Company: Zappos.com

What you need to do in a transformation is to get people to act differently. When people begin to act differently, they will begin to think differently.

Content: Quotation | Author: Doug Yakola | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Change Management

Understanding five managerial archetypes can help.

Content: Article | Authors: Ashwin Acharya, Elizabeth Seem, Roni Lieber, Tom Welchman | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Human Resources, Management, Organizational Behavior

I think that some of the critique, the things we would worry about monopolies in the past don’t apply in the same way as they do now, but I think there are new things. So, 100 years ago people were worried about price gouging. Now they’re worried about personal information; they’re worried about intrusiveness. We’ve never had corporations that know so much about us. I … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Matthew Taylor | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Economics

Aggressive goals can dramatically improve a company’s performance. But unachievable goals can do more harm than good. Here’s how to stretch without breaking.

Content: Article | Authors: Hugues Lavandier, Ken Schwartz, Ryan Davies | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Management

Leaders need to understand and value the alternative credentials that are available. If I’m an employer, I need to be saying, “Here are the 12 competencies that I need you to get. I don’t care where you get them. You don’t need to spend $200,000 in four years to go do that. You just need to show us some proof.”

The idea that you enter at … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Lee Rubenstein | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Human Resources, Training & Development