What the latest trends in sporting goods mean for brands
Pickleball, padel—yes, they’re hot. Nevertheless, a third of the world’s adults are inactive—and among youth, inactivity is even more pronounced, according to McKinsey Partner Alexander Thiel. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Alexander joins Global Editorial Director and Deputy Publisher Lucia Rahilly to discuss this year’s whipsawing consumer trends, as well as what sporting goods leaders can do to harness them to combat slowing growth. Articles/pieces mentioned: Can Bloomingdale’s bring the magic back to department stores? McKinsey's 2025 annual book recommendations Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy NgiawSee www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information
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26:48
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26:48
Tariffs and trade: Preparing for the unpredictable
As geopolitical tensions persist, global trade dynamics are becoming increasingly complex—and many leaders find themselves on tenterhooks. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Cindy Levy and Shubham Singhal, two global coleaders of McKinsey’s geopolitics work, join Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss how to move forward amid rapidly reconfiguring trade relationships—regardless of the way current tariff talks play out. This conversation has been adapted from our McKinsey Live series. Articles mentioned: The ‘attention equation’: Winning the right battles for consumer attention State of the Consumer 2025: When disruption becomes permanent Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information
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28:29
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28:29
Confronting the affordable-housing crisis
The US housing crunch is bad—and it’s getting worse. Wider access to safe, affordable homes is vital to enabling economic mobility for all Americans—and to harnessing what McKinsey Partner JP Julien, a leader of the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, calls a “massive” untapped economic opportunity. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, JP joins Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to discuss what’s causing the crisis in affordable housing, who’s most affected, and what both public- and private-sector leaders can do to effect fast but lasting change. Articles mentioned: The State of Aviation 2025 Global Private Markets Report 2025: Braced for shifting weather Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy NgiawSee www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information
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25:28
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25:28
Data centers: The race to power AI
Leaders worldwide are moving fast to deploy AI at scale. But scaling AI means more data centers—and data centers consume vast quantities of energy. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey’s Jesse Noffsinger and Pankaj Sachdeva speak with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about what needs to happen to build new, bigger data centers quickly, as well as to sate their growing hunger for power. Articles mentioned: A generational shift: The future of foreign aid Risk rebalancing: Five important geopolitical-risk questions for CIOs Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy NgiawSee www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information
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12:47
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12:47
Time to revisit your M&A strategy
M&A activity is down, as is private equity investment, and companies are facing a range of new geopolitical tensions. Still, there is a path to growth through M&A for those companies that maintain an active acquisition strategy, understand their capabilities, and avoid certain assets, says McKinsey Senior Partner Jake Henry. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, he and McKinsey Senior Partner Mieke Van Oostende join McKinsey Editorial Director Roberta Fusaro to discuss findings from McKinsey’s 2025 M&A report. They also discuss the importance of culture in M&A integrations. In our second segment, McKinsey Senior Partner Dana Maor shares how CEOs can and should stay connected to their teams with Managing Editor of Podcasts, Laurel Moglen. (Starts at 15:58) Articles mentioned: The cost of compute: A $7 trillion race to scale data centers In a moment of tariffs, can the world find balance and trust to thrive? Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy NgiawSee www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information
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.
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