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Forward Thinking

by McKinsey Global Institute

Forward Thinking examines groundbreaking ways in which the world is evolving and how people and organizations can respond to changing demands and technologies. In each episode theorists, innovators, and business leaders discuss global trends—technology, artificial intelligence, globalization, urbanization, climate change, and more—with hosts Michael Chui and Janet Bush of the McKinsey Global Institute.

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Episodes

  1. Is the world facing a state of permacrisis?

    Leading economists Mike Spence and Mohamed El-Erian talk about the “pretty complicated and disorienting environment” we face. In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward thinking podcast, co-host Michael Chui talks with A. Michael Spence, dean emeritus of the Stanford Graduate…

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  2. Has the drive toward human development been thrown into reverse?

    The UNDP’s Pedro Conceição talks about today’s global gridlock, uncertainty complex, and a pervasive sense of disempowerment. See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

  3. Unpacking the mysteries of productivity

    Leading economist Chad Syverson speculates about the ingredients in productivity’s secret sauce. In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks with Chad Syverson. Syverson is George C. Tiao Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the...

  4. Delivering services to the public—digitally—with Jennifer Pahlka

    A former US deputy chief technology officer talks about how digitization can be used to create a government that works for the people. Jennifer Pahlka is the founder of Code for America, served as the United States government’s deputy chief technology officer, and is author of the book Recoding...

  5. What’s the future for cities in the postpandemic world?

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with Ed Glaeser, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics and the chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University. His latest book, coauthored with health economist David Cutler, is Survival of the city: The future of urban life in an age of...

  6. Forward Thinking on Europe’s existential crisis with Marco Buti

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with Marco Buti. Buti holds the Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Chair in European Economic and Monetary Integration at the European University Institute. They cover topics including the following: The evolution of European policy coordination European competitiveness Whether...

  7. Forward Thinking on the tricky business of removing carbon from our world with Nan Ransohoff

    Co-host Michael Chui talks with Nan Ransohoff. Ransohoff is the head of climate at Stripe and leads Frontier, an advanced market commitment for carbon removal. She answers questions including: Is carbon removal a get out of jail free card for emitters? What are the most promising carbon removal...

  8. Forward Thinking on how geeks are changing the world with Andrew McAfee

    Co-host Michael Chui talks with Andy McAfee. McAfee is a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management, co-founder and co-director of MIT’s initiative on the digital economy, and the inaugural visiting fellow at the Technology in Society organization at Google. See...

  9. Forward Thinking on why we ignore inflation—from ancient times to the present—at our peril with Stephen King

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with Stephen King. King is a senior economic advisor to HSBC, having served as the bank’s group chief economist from 1998 to 2015. His latest book, very prescient in timing, is We Need to Talk About Inflation: 14 Urgent Lessons from the Last 2,000 Years. In this podcast…

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  10. Forward Thinking on the existential issues facing the middle classes in every country with Homi Kharas

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with Homi Kharas. Kharas is a senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution and also cofounder of World Data Lab. He studies policies and trends influencing developing countries, the emergence of the world's middle class, and global...

  11. Forward Thinking on funding a clean world with Ann Mettler

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with Ann Mettler. Mettler is Vice President, Europe, at Breakthrough Energy, working on cleantech innovation in pursuit of a net-zero-emissions future. Before her current role, she worked for many years in European public policy. She was head of the European Political...

  12. Forward Thinking on the recipe for Asia’s success story with Justin Yifu Lin

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with Justin Yifu Lin. Lin is dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics, dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, and professor and honorary dean of the National School of Development at Peking University. He served as chief economist at…

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  13. Forward Thinking on how to live with our longer lives with Andrew J. Scott

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with Andrew J. Scott. Scott is professor of economics at London Business School; his work focuses on the economics of longevity. He's co-founder of the Longevity Forum and a member of the World Economic Forum's Council on Healthy Aging and Longevity, topics that are very...

  14. Forward Thinking on avoiding another false dawn for Africa and finally seizing the continent’s potential with Carlos Lopes

    Cohost Janet Bush talks with Carlos Lopes. He is a professor in the Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town. He’s also an affiliate professor at Sciences Po, Paris, an associate fellow in the Africa Program at Chatham House, and a member of the African Union reform…

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  15. Forward Thinking on bringing the joy to economics with Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers

    Cohost Michael Chui talks with Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, both professors of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. They cover topics including the following: Subjective well-being How the labor market has evolved since the pandemic A decline in inequality The...

  16. Forward Thinking on the brave new world of generative AI with Ethan Mollick

    Co-host Michael Chui talks with business professor Ethan Mollick. He is an associate professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mollick covers topics including the following: What is generative AI? How substantial are the performance improvements workers can gain from…

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  17. Forward Thinking on the rollercoaster of central banking with Hans-Helmut Kotz

    Co-host Michael Chui talks with economist Hans-Helmut Kotz who is a visiting professor of economics at Harvard University, a senior policy fellow at the Leibniz Institute for financial research at Goethe University, Frankfurt, and on the economics faculty of Freiburg University. Kotz covers…

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  18. Forward Thinking on people on the move and the technological progress and productivity they bring with Dany Bahar

    Co-host Janet Bush talks with economist Dany Bahar. He is an associate professor of practice of international and public affairs at Brown University’s Watson Institute and a senior fellow of the Growth Lab at the Harvard Center for International Development. He’s also a nonresident fellow at the...

  19. Forward Thinking on ‘megathreats,’ ‘polycrises,’ and ‘doom loops’ with Nouriel Roubini

    Co-host Michael Chui talks with Nouriel Roubini. Roubini is professor emeritus of economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and CEO of Roubini Macro Associates, a global macroeconomics consultancy. He covers topics including the following: The “mother of all” debt crises…

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  20. Forward Thinking on working at the interface of the environment and business with Justin Adams

    Co-host Michael Chui talks with Justin Adams. Adams is the head of partnerships at Just Climate, a climate-led investment business. he answers questions, including: How does nature or the ecosystem provide services to the economy? How much needs to be invested in nature? What role can capitalism...

  21. Forward Thinking on what deep history might tell us about today’s turbulent times with Alan Taylor

    In this podcast, economist Alan Taylor covers how history can provide a lens into trends in globalization and wealth and the long-term impact of pandemics. See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

  22. Forward Thinking on how to get remote working right with Nicholas Bloom

    In this episode, co-host Michael Chui talks with Nicholas Bloom. Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He covers topics including the following: The history of remote work How remote…

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  23. Forward Thinking on the complicated and contentious state of global trade with Chad P. Bown

    Janet Bush talks with Chad P. Bown. Bown is Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. They cover topics including: How contentious current trading relationships are in the context of history Is the world deglobalizing or not? The economic and human cost…

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  24. Forward Thinking on the meeting point of science and humanity with Jayshree Seth

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Michael Chui talks with Jayshree Seth, a corporate scientist and the chief science advocate at the 3M company. She covers topics including: How the human context can be brought into the practice of science and...

  25. Forward Thinking on the fragility of the world’s food systems and how to fix them with Jessica Fanzo

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, Janet Bush talks with Jessica Fanzo. Fanzo is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Nitze School of...

  26. Forward Thinking on talent, state capacity, and being hopeful with Tyler Cowen

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, Michael Chui talks to Tyler Cowen, Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University, who serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. With colleague Alex...

  27. Forward Thinking on progress in science funding, immigration, and biosecurity with Alec Stapp

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Michael Chui talks with Alec Stapp, co-CEO of the Institute for Progress, a Washington, DC, think tank he co-founded in January 2022. Progress is a policy choice, its founders say, and they have chosen to focus...

  28. Forward Thinking on the sustainability revolution in textiles and the fashion industry with Edwin Keh

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks to Edwin Keh, the CEO of the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. It was set up in 2006, with the aim of becoming a center of excellence in research and development in the…

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  29. Forward Thinking on people, places, and the revenge of places that don’t matter with Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks to Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Princesa de Asturias Chair and a professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics. Between 2015 and 2017, he was president of the Regional Science...

  30. Forward Thinking on war in Ukraine, inflation, and cooperation in a fractured world with Jean Pisani-Ferry

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks to leading French economist Jean Pisani-Ferry. He holds the Tommaso Padoa Schioppa chair at the European University Institute. He's a senior fellow at Bruegel, the European think tank, and a...

  31. Forward Thinking on measuring the value of the digital age with Avinash Collis

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Michael Chui talks with Avinash Collis, professor of digital economy at The University of Texas at Austin, and Digital Fellow at Stanford and MIT. He covers topics including: — One of the greatest inventions of…

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  32. Forward Thinking on trade, vaccines, and sustainable and inclusive growth with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, guest interviewer Acha Leke talks with Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala. Acha Leke is a McKinsey senior partner in Johannesburg and is chairman of McKinsey’s Africa region. Okonjo-Iweala became director-general of the World Trade...

  33. Forward Thinking on democratizing technology with Anne-Marie Imafidon

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, Janet Bush talks with British mathematician and technologist Anne‑Marie Imafidon, co-founder of Stemettes, a social initiative dedicated to inspiring and promoting the next generation of young women in STEM sectors....

  34. Forward Thinking on the growing role of business in the net-zero transition with Claire O’Neill

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush speaks with Claire O’Neill. While serving as a minister in the British government, O’Neill led the United Kingdom’s winning bid to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in 2021.…

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  35. Forward Thinking on tech and the unpredictability of prediction with Benedict Evans

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, Michael Chui talks with Benedict Evans, an independent technology analyst. Evans covers topics including the following: ● The generational shifts in technology that occur every 15 years or so ● What characterizes a...

  36. Forward Thinking on sustainable and inclusive growth with Ron O’Hanley

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, guest interviewer Jonathan Woetzel talks with Ron O’Hanley, president and CEO of State Street Corporation, a major servicer and manager of institutional assets. State Street has committed to making its portfolios carbon...

  37. Forward Thinking on pandemic paradoxes, labor market myths, and ‘cowboy capitalism’ with David Autor

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, Michael Chui talks with David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Autor talks about the paradoxes created for labor markets by the pandemic, the effect of trade globalization,...

  38. Forward Thinking on the social contract in a postpandemic world with Minouche Shafik and Andrew Sheng

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, guest interviewer Jonathan Woetzel talks with two leading economists spanning Europe and Asia. Baroness Minouche Shafik is director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Andrew Sheng is distinguished...

  39. Forward Thinking on the transformative role of intangible assets in companies and economies with Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks with Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake. Jonathan Haskel is professor of economics at Imperial College Business School at Imperial College London and an external member of the Monetary Policy...

  40. Forward Thinking on globalization and the evolving role of corporate leadership in the 21st century with Matthew Slaughter

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Michael Chui talks with Matthew J. Slaughter, Paul Danos Dean and Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Slaughter takes the temperature of...

  41. Forward Thinking on the enduring power of engineering in a digitizing world with Hayaatun Sillem

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks with Hayaatun Sillem. She is the chief executive officer of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom—the first woman to serve in that role—and of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for...

  42. Forward Thinking on making labor markets work smarter—for people and companies—with Beth Cobert and Byron Auguste

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, Michael Chui talks to Byron Auguste and Beth Cobert whose professional life is dedicated to fostering a more skills-based labor market. Their focus is on the United States, but their diagnostic can just as easily apply…

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  43. Forward Thinking on pandemic preparedness, climate risk, and Europe’s recovery with Guntram Wolff

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush speaks with Guntram Wolff, the director of Bruegel, which is regularly ranked one of the top global think tanks. In early 2021, he was appointed to a new G-20 panel on pandemic prevention…

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  44. Forward Thinking on economies beyond COVID-19 with Michael Spence

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush speaks with distinguished economist Michael Spence. He is professor of economics and dean emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford…

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  45. From fighter pilot to robotics pioneer: An interview with Missy Cummings

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Michael Chui speaks with Mary “Missy” Cummings, one of the first female fighter pilots in the US Navy and now a professor in the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering and the Duke Institute for Brain...

  46. [Introducing] Inside the strategy room: A conversation with Brian Chesky of Airbnb on the 21st century corporation

    We’d like to share a special interview from our friends at McKinsey’s Inside the Strategy Room podcast. In this episode, you’ll hear Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, in discussion with McKinsey Global Institute co-chairman James Manikya. The theme of their conversation centered...

  47. How Hamilton stayed alive during the pandemic: An interview with producer Jeffrey Seller

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Anna Bernasek speaks with Jeffrey Seller, producer of Broadway hits Hamilton, In the Heights, Rent, and more about the tumultuous year-plus Broadway and live performances have endured. Ahead of Broadway reopening...

  48. Forward Thinking on economic recovery and gender equality with Laura Tyson

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, host Michael Chui speaks with Laura Tyson, Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Tyson shares her journey in economics, from discovering Econ 1...

  49. Forward Thinking on technology and political economy with Daron Acemoglu

    In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, hosts Michael Chui and Anna Bernasek speak with Daron Acemoglu. Daron is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a coauthor (with James A. Robinson) of Why Nations Fail: The Origins…

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  50. Forward Thinking on China and artificial intelligence with Jeffrey Ding

    In this episode of Forward Thinking, host Michael Chui speaks with Jeffrey Ding, researcher and founder of the ChinAI newsletter, about information asymmetry in artificial intelligence between China and the West. They cover why data may not be like oil, the Chinese industry adage on products,...

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Forward Thinking examines groundbreaking ways in which the world is evolving and how people and organizations can respond to changing demands and technologies. In each episode theorists, innovators, and business leaders discuss global trends—technology, artificial intelligence, globalization, urbanization, climate change, and more—with hosts Michael Chui and Janet Bush of the McKinsey Global Institute.

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McKinsey Global Institute

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Forward Thinking currently has 65 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

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Forward Thinking examines groundbreaking ways in which the world is evolving and how people and organizations can respond to changing demands and technologies. In each episode theorists, innovators, and business leaders discuss global trends—technology, artificial intelligence, globalization,...

How often does Forward Thinking release new episodes?

Forward Thinking has 65 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

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Forward Thinking is created and hosted by McKinsey Global Institute.
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