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How to prepare for tomorrow’s agentic workforce

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Monthly Highlights, July 2025

AI agents are reshaping the competitive landscape. Done right, they offer laggards a chance to leap ahead. Done wrong—or not at all—they could hasten the fall of today’s leaders. This is a moment of strategic divergence. In our featured report, McKinsey’s Alexander Sukharevsky, Dave Kerr, Klemens Hjartar, Lari Hämäläinen, Stéphane Bout, and Vito Di Leo share a CEO playbook for unlocking scalable impact with AI agents. Our second feature explores what gen AI agents are, how they’re being used in the workplace, and how leaders can prepare for the workforce of the near future.

Other highlights include the following topics:

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shifting global supply chains amid rising US–China trade tensions

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maximizing consumer attention through strategic engagement and content prioritization

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transforming HR’s operating model to drive value in today’s volatile world

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analyzing 2025 global consumer behavior shifts and spending trends after the COVID-19 pandemic

Editor’s choice

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Seizing the agentic AI advantage

A CEO playbook to solve the gen AI paradox and unlock scalable impact with AI agents.

Dive into the 28-page report

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The future of work is agentic

The digital workforce is happening. Here’s what it may look like when humans are working side by side with AI agents—and how to prepare now for this surprisingly near-term eventuality.

Explore the potential of AI agents

THIS MONTH’s HIGHLIGHTS

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The great trade rearrangement

A newly defined “rearrangement ratio” gauges the potential to rearrange US imports from China and how this could ripple across the globe.
Explore new possibilities

The ‘attention equation’: Winning the right battles for consumer attention

The media industry has focused on the quantity of consumer attention rather than the quality, but use of the “attention equation” can begin to bridge that gap.
Discover the value of consumer attention

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A new operating model for a new world

While your strategic goals may be the right ones, is the organization built to achieve them? New research reveals a dynamic system that creates value in the face of volatility.
Reimagine workflow permanently

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State of the Consumer 2025: When disruption becomes permanent

Five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers’ crisis-era habits have lingered. Here’s what organizations can do to outcompete in the second half of the decade.
4 imperatives for consumer players

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The CMO’s comeback: Aligning the C-suite to drive customer-centric growth

Marketing has taken a back seat at many companies. We look at how bringing the CMO up front and aligning with the CEO and CFO can drive sustainable growth.
Gear up the growth engine

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The Year of Quantum: From concept to reality in 2025

Our fourth annual Quantum Technology Monitor report shows that surging investment and faster-than-expected innovation could propel the quantum market to $100 billion in a decade.
Explore the future of quantum

ALSO New

Multinationals at a crossroads: Adapting to a new geopolitical era

Preparing for tomorrow’s agentic workforce

The next innovation revolution—powered by AI

The opportunity to innovate in senior housing

Accelerating economic mobility and quality of life in urban communities

When building new businesses, culture matters

State of Beauty 2025: Solving a shifting growth puzzle

Investing in innovation: Three ways to do more with less

Show me the value: A CIO view on how tech can shape the business

A new trade paradigm: How shifts in trade corridors could affect business

Four dos and don’ts for CFOs leading transformations

The new tariff reality: From risk to resilience

Understanding the price of decarbonization

Accelerating progress: Maximizing the return on talent in A&D

Investing in living better: Quality of life and the future of business

OUt now

What to read next: McKinsey’s annual 2025 book recommendations

Each year, we invite a diverse group of leaders to share the books that have resonated with them—or ones they can’t wait to read. This year’s list includes over 90 titles, from timely insights to timeless fiction.

Find your next read 

Special features

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McKinsey Explainers

Find direct answers to complex questions, backed by McKinsey’s expert insights.
Learn more

McKinsey Themes

Browse our essential reading on the topics that matter.
Get up to speed

McKinsey on Lives & Legacies

Monthly obituaries from business and society, highlighting the lasting legacies of executives and leaders from around the globe.
Explore the latest obituaries

Mind the Gap

Biweekly curated reads on Gen Z in the workplace.
Subscribe now

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McKinsey Classics

Most companies fund the same units year after year, hindering strategic goals and performance. Read our 2012 classic, “How to put your money where your strategy is,” to learn more.
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Leading Off

Each Monday, let McKinsey’s editors help you get ready to take on the leadership challenges of the coming week, through revealing research, inspiring interviews, and insightful quotations to empower you and those you lead.
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— Edited by Eleni Kostopoulos, managing editor, New York

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by "McKinsey Highlights" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 11:36 - 5 Jul 2025

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