Top Ten McKinsey & Company 2013 Articles

Top Ten Newsletter | 2013 Most popular with mckinsey.com readers 1. Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy Twelve emerging technologies—including the mobile Internet, autonomous vehicles, and advanced genomics—have the potential to truly reshape the world in which we live and work. A related slideshow details each technology’s economic-value potential.more 2. Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity Big data will become a key basis of competition, underpinning new waves of productivity growth, innovation, and consumer surplus—as long as the right policies and enablers are in place. The accompanying interactive examines the state of digital data and the value that can potentially be unlocked. more 3. The coming era of on-demand marketing Emerging technologies are poised to personalize the consumer experience radically—in real time and almost everywhere. It’s not too early to prepare. more 4. Motivating people: Getting beyond money The economic slump offers business leaders a chance to more effectively reward talented employees by emphasizing nonfinancial motivators rather than bonuses. more 5. The do-or-die questions boards should ask about technology Board members should raise nine critical questions when discussing technology strategy with IT and business managers. more 6. Six social-media skills every leader needs Organizational social-media literacy is fast becoming a source of competitive advantage. Learn, through the lens of executives at General Electric, how you and your leaders can keep up. more 7. Mastering the building blocks of strategy Increase your likelihood of developing effective strategies through an approach that’s thorough, action-oriented, and comfortable with debate and ambiguity. more 8. How to make a city great By 2030, 60 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. That could mean great things for economic growth—if the cities handle their expansion wisely. This report and accompanying video explore the lessons that business and government leaders can learn from successful cities—and a related slideshow offers examples from six cities that are seeing encouraging results. more 9. Game Changers: Five opportunities for US growth and renewal Five catalysts can reignite the US economy—opportunities in energy, trade, technology, infrastructure, and talent development can add hundreds of billions of dollars to annual GDP and create millions of new jobs by 2020. An accompanying animated video runs the numbers on these game changers. more 10. Five routes to more innovative problem solving Tricky problems must be shaped before they can be solved. To start that process, and stimulate novel thinking, leaders should look through multiple lenses. more