Americans' views on economic well-being, global mental health, and more essential reads: The Daily Read weekender

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CURATED PICKS FOR YOUR DOWNTIME, FROM OUR EDITORS

Joyce Yoo
Digital Editor, New York

We’ve made it to the weekend and it’s time to get caught up on this week’s big reads. From the adoption of cloud in the financial-services sector to mental health around the world, here are some of the key insights from this week.

Dr. Shekhar Saxena stands in front of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Photo by Kent Dayton

Psychiatrist and Harvard professor Shekhar Saxena talks to McKinsey Health Institute's Kana Enomoto about why mental health is a borderless, global issue.

Understand the connections

Explore how Americans feel about employment, inflation, childcare, and physical and mental health with host André Dua in a new episode of McKinsey’s Future of America podcast.

Explore the key findings

Silhouette of man standing in front of digital cloud illustration

See how financial institutions can capture the business value of cloud.

Shift your strategy

Our weekly briefing note on sustainable and inclusive growth takes a look at the challenge of creating growth that leaves no one behind including frontline workers, urban vs. rural America, and the perils of the “mini-me” mindset in apprenticeship.

Get the latest update

Quote of the day

“Before, climate change was about doing the right thing. Now it’s just good business, whether you’re thinking about share valuation or moving your business toward building a new, green infrastructure.”

—Ram Ramachander, CEO of Hitachi ZeroCarbon and chief digital officer of Hitachi Europe, on building net-zero businesses in Launching net-zero businesses: Lessons from a digital leader

Chart of the day

Chart of employee burnout rate by country

See today’s chart

ready to unwind?

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Developing pharmaceutical launch leaders and company-wide capabilities at scale

By building certain functional and leadership skills, pharma companies can not only improve the odds of a successful launch but also strengthen their organizations for the future.

Tailor with care

Image of a Black family of three in a car

Rules of the road: Equitably serving Black automotive consumers

Black consumers’ automotive spending is projected to grow, and companies have opportunities to create more equitable experiences.

Drive equitable service

57-Across: 1992 picture book by Audrey Wood in which the title character “went to town, walking backwards, upside down”

Know the answer? Test yourself with the latest McKinsey Crossword, "Wise" Titles | No. 87.

Get wise

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by "McKinsey Daily Read" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 06:52 - 5 Aug 2022

We’ll see you August 19

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Thanks for your ongoing interest in The Shortlist and for helping make it one of our longest-running and most popular longform newsletters. The Shortlist will be taking a two-week break, but we’ll be back in your inbox on August 19 to continue delivering our weekly sampling of need-to-know McKinsey insights.

In the meantime, you can always browse through past issues here, and below are three of our favorite recent issues featuring some of our most-read articles. Take a look in case you missed them the first time around.

And if you have friends or colleagues you think might enjoy The Shortlist when it’s back, we hope you’ll consider forwarding this email or sharing it on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. If they want to get future issues in their inbox—or to see our 40+ other free email products—they can sign up at mckinsey.com/subscriptions. (You might want to check it out, too, to revisit your subscriptions or find out about new publications.)

Too many meetings, too few decisions: How “being busy” gets in the way

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The quitting trend just won’t quit. It’s time for companies to update their talent strategy.

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What can CEOs do to tackle inflation? A lot, actually.

Follow our thinking

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by "McKinsey Shortlist" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 02:53 - 5 Aug 2022

Air travel is back—but can airlines win over consumers before the ‘honeymoon phase’ ends?

On Point

TODAY'S NEWS. TOMORROW'S INSIGHTS.
A daily newsletter from McKinsey & Company

Edited by Kanika Punwani
Senior Copy Editor, Southern California

Travel takes off

The news

•

Path to profitability. As travelers take to the skies, global airlines are expecting to post a much lower loss in 2022 than was estimated in 2021: $9.7 billion instead of the forecasted $42.1 billion, with profitability possible by 2023. But while customers are eager to travel and willing to pay more as a result, some airline leaders have expressed concern that demand may fade as airfares continue to rise. Carriers are highly indebted and struggling with cost pressures such as higher salaries and increasing fuel prices. [Reuters]

•

Why fly? Wi-Fi. While you might still have to deal with lost luggage, at least one aspect of air travel is getting better and cheaper: onboard connectivity. Some carriers are offering Wi-Fi at greatly reduced prices, while others are testing providing it for free. In response to passengers’ soaring use of streaming content and online apps, airlines are rolling out major upgrades to their Wi-Fi services, including adding new hardware and improving bandwidth. That’s welcome news for passengers who complain that Wi-Fi on planes is slow, spotty, and seriously expensive. [WaPo]

The current upswing in air travel presents an opportunity for companies to promote a travel industry recovery while also improving their customer experience game.

Our insights

•

Changing consumer loyalties. People are increasingly returning to air travel, with domestic and international business travel increasing by double digits between February and April 2022. But despite steady satisfaction ratings, negative sentiment among travelers is on the rise, reveal McKinsey senior partners Kevin Neher , Jules Seeley, and colleagues. Recent flight cancellations and staffing shortages could result in a wave of customer dissatisfaction, leaving loyalty up for grabs.

•

Flight shaming. As airline leaders look to the future, addressing sustainability concerns could become a priority. Younger customers are particularly concerned about their carbon footprint. Senior partner Tomas Nauclér and colleagues find that 32% of travelers age 18 to 24 report experiencing “flygskam,” or shame of flying—and nearly 50% say that they would be willing to pay for carbon-neutral flights. See four key areas airlines can focus on to regain their footing in the latest edition of the McKinsey Quarterly Five Fifty.

Navigate trends in air travel

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by "McKinsey On Point" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 12:54 - 5 Aug 2022

Transitioning to a net-zero world with green businesses

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AN ARTICLE A DAY, PICKED BY OUR EDITORS

Edited by Joyce Yoo
Digital Editor, New York

As the world moves toward achieving net zero by 2050, what does the future look like for eight industries including steel, power, food & agriculture, forestry and more? What are the green business opportunities that create value and what does going green mean for spending, output, and jobs? In a series of interactive timelines from McKinsey Quarterly, Hamid Samandari, Humayun Tai , and their coauthors explore what a net-zero transition could look like for each industry in five-year increments, starting with actual figures from 2020. See what the future holds and seize the opportunities.

Spotting green business opportunities in a surging net-zero world

Explore how eight industries may transition to a net-zero world, and how organizations can respond with green businesses that create value along the way.

Be bold

Quote of the day

“One of the core tenets of apprenticeship is that it is nonhierarchical. It doesn’t have to be a senior person apprenticing a junior person. . . . The person who has the skills should embrace the responsibility, the obligation, and the opportunity of helping other people get the same skills they have.”

—Lisa Christensen, director of learning in McKinsey’s Learning Design Center of Excellence, on what apprenticeship looks like in today’s organizations in a recent episode of The McKinsey Podcast

Chart of the day

Chart detailing the amount fo hours US conmsumers will spend in the metaverse

See today’s chart

ALSO NEW

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by "McKinsey Daily Read" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 06:33 - 4 Aug 2022

[Online workshop] Maximising Observability with New Relic Logs

New Relic One weaves all of your logs and events data into a single, comprehensive view to empower you to easily correlate log data with APM, infrastructure, and error data. Leverage Logs in Context where a trace and span ID is automatically applied to your Full Stack Observability content, enabling you to get to the root cause of problems quickly, without losing context switching between tools.

Register for this free online workshop to get a comprehensive introduction to understanding and working with logs in New Relic. Explore the different ways to bring your log data to New Relic, the fast and easy to use UI, as well as how to parse, filter, or drop logs to match your needs.

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by "New Relic" <emeamarketing@newrelic.com> - 04:28 - 4 Aug 2022

Companies face talent gaps. How can apprenticeship deliver needed expertise?

On Point

TODAY'S NEWS. TOMORROW'S INSIGHTS.
A daily newsletter from McKinsey & Company

Edited by Belinda Yu
Editor, Atlanta

The art of apprenticeship

The news

•

From trades to tech. Tech apprenticeships get a lot of attention these days, but such arrangements have a long history. During the Middle Ages in Europe, workers could learn a trade such as blacksmithing from a master craftsman. In return for labor, apprentices would receive food, shelter, and skills. The upshot of this is that European apprenticeships are strictly regulated. In the US, however, they’re more decentralized. To determine if a buzzy apprenticeship is worth pursuing, find out if it has produced full-time hires. [Fast Company]

•

To retain, train the brain. It’s no secret that employers are trying to retain workers amid the Great Resignation. That’s leading to a renewed focus on prepping employees for better-paying internal roles that often require more advanced technical skills. Globally, 46% of learning and development leaders say that reskilling and upskilling are top priorities for their companies, reveals a 2022 survey. In June 2022, one US-based upskilling platform raised $175 million to expand its career services for in-demand fields such as financial services. [Fortune]

“One of the biggest future organizational challenges we have is encouraging experts to train others so that their knowledge becomes institutional knowledge.”

Our insights

•

Apprenticeship in action. Organizations are under pressure to develop and retain employees. More than 80% of companies say that they are either facing critical skills gaps or expect to face them within the next few years, previous McKinsey research has shown. By allowing workers to transfer expertise to colleagues, regardless of rank, apprenticeship can help employees rapidly build skills and increase collaboration at a time when more work is done remotely, say McKinsey’s Lisa Christensen and Tony Gambell.

•

Everybody learns. Suppose a manager is reviewing a team member’s report. One opportunity for apprenticeship would be if, rather than rewriting the document, the manager explained the thinking behind each change. The team member would therefore become more capable, saving time in the long run. Expertise doesn’t always have to flow from the top down. Organizations can start with setting the expectation that everybody learns and everybody teaches. Discover the four techniques of apprenticeship.

Learn about apprenticeship

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by "McKinsey On Point" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 12:32 - 4 Aug 2022

Register Now | What’s New in Acrobat Pro Live Webinar

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Tuesday, 16 August 2022 • 11am SGT

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In our “work anywhere” world, your team needs access to their tools from any place, at any time. Advanced document capabilities are essential to both ensuring productivity with a hybrid workforce, and meeting customer expectations.

On Aug 16, join us for our What’s New in Acrobat Pro webinar. Our expert will take you through the highlights, walking you through significant enhancements on:

Guided demos and best practices on unlimited request signatures and bulk send capabilities
Show you how to create, send, sign, track, and manage the document flows critical to key functions such as sales and HR.
Learn how e-signatures smoothly integrate with Microsoft 365, enabling teams to work seamlessly within their existing software workflows.

From sales contracts to onboarding, IP to inventory, obtaining signatures efficiently and securely is critical for every part of an organization. When you use a comprehensive tool like Acrobat Sign — which has delivered an overall ROI of 519% and reduced e-signature costs by 25%* — every department wins.

Join us on Aug 16 to learn how this single trusted tool — which is part of the Adobe Document Cloud — can strengthen and unify your organization’s work.
  
* A commissioned Total Economic Impact™ study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Adobe, January, 2022.

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by "Adobe" <demand@info.adobe.com> - 10:02 - 3 Aug 2022

Re: Invite only - Design First or Code First?

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by "Joshua McLatchie" <Joshua.McLatchie@smartbear.com> - 09:05 - 3 Aug 2022

Race in the workplace: The frontline experience

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AN ARTICLE A DAY, PICKED BY OUR EDITORS

Edited by Joyce Yoo
Digital Editor, New York

Front line workers represent about 70 percent of the total US workforce and are the lifeblood of nearly all sectors of the economy from healthcare to transportation and logistics to foodservice. While their contributions are vital, the momentum around diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in recent years have largely overlooked frontline employees, who are nearly 20 percent less likely than corporate employees to believe that DEI policies are effective. People of color, who represent a huge chunk of the frontline workforce, face even greater challenges moving up the ladder than their White counterparts. In a new report , Bryan Hancock , Monne Williams, Lareina Yee and their coauthors delve into the experiences of frontline workers of color and examine the issues they face, pathways to careers advancement, and the actions companies can take to improve job quality and better support them. Be sure to check it out and download the full report.

Race in the workplace: The frontline experience

Three of four frontline workers want to be promoted, but less than one in four achieves it. Companies can take targeted actions to better support these workers.

Get new DEI insights

Quote of the day

“We’ve had a generation now entering the workforce who is used to accessing everything, all the time, anywhere, except for project work, as a solo endeavor. A huge portion of what we’re doing at work is not a solo endeavor. It requires working with others.”

—McKinsey senior partner Bill Schaninger on attracting employees back to in-person work in a recent episode of the McKinsey Talks Talent podcast

Chart of the day

Chart detailing European consumers switching to discount retailers

See today’s chart

ALSO NEW

Store worker helping a customer in a supermarket

The Great Attrition in frontline retail—and what retailers can do about it

New research reveals which aspects of the employee experience matter most to US frontline retail workers. Retailers must pay attention and act quickly or risk losing more than half their store staff.

Understand and empower

Apprenticeship gets a makeover

It may sound like an outdated term, but apprenticeship remains a powerful tool in today’s businesses for building skills, increasing collaboration, and retaining talent.

Share the knowledge

Growing and sustaining prosperity for small-town Americans

The divide between rural and urban communities has widened as the COVID-19 pandemic pushes rural communities’ economic recovery further behind. How can leaders put rural regions on track to thrive?

Density matters

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by "McKinsey Daily Read" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 05:10 - 3 Aug 2022

Workers are resisting a return to the office. Can leaders make workplaces more magnetic?

On Point

TODAY'S NEWS. TOMORROW'S INSIGHTS.
A daily newsletter from McKinsey & Company

Edited by Belinda Yu
Editor, Atlanta

Rebooting the office

The news

•

So long, cubical farms. With greenery, better technology, and access to the outdoors, today’s offices have come a long way from the cubicle farms of yesteryear. Many employers are struggling to get people back into buildings and modifying layouts to be more enticing. Modern workplaces offer added areas for collaboration and plenty of amenities, such as healthy meals, to promote greater employee satisfaction and well-being. One global real estate firm says that 80% of its biggest clients report updating offices to reflect changing work models. [Fortune]

•

Work from anywhere. The workplace of the future will be much more flexible overall, declares one organizational expert. By then, companies will have figured out some of the growing pains of using the technology and coordinating work in a hybrid office. Soon, people will be able to live and work wherever they want. But before embracing the concept of working from anywhere, people should consider the potential unintended consequences—such as if companies were to use the opportunity to move jobs overseas to cut costs. [FT]

“We’re seeing an explosion of available work spaces of even more shapes, sizes, feeling, and locations than any one employer could ever provide.”

Our insights

•

Make it magnetic. Managers want employees back at the office, but many workers, hooked on flexibility, are resisting the return. With the average cost of having an office about $10,000 to $15,000 per person each year, stakes are high for rebooting the office, McKinsey senior partner Bill Schaninger and colleagues say. One way to make the workplace “really magnetic”? Have a community manager there that brings “a sense of surprise and delight” through, for example, buying hot chocolate for everyone on a cold day, says McKinsey’s Phil Kirschner.

•

The future office. The office of the future can be dynamic, inspiring, and even play a role in accelerating learning, says Kirschner. Employers can shift training rooms from a windowless basement to attractive nooks and alcoves. They can also open the door to the community, bringing new ideas and people into the building. Shifting from reservation-only spaces to more natural “centers of gravity” where people tend to gather can also make it likelier for workers to meet and interact. See two simple, cost-effective ways to experiment with workplace design.

Explore how offices may change

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by "McKinsey On Point" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 12:50 - 3 Aug 2022

Purpose, strategy, and culture: The why, the what, and the how

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AN ARTICLE A DAY, PICKED BY OUR EDITORS

Edited by Emily Adeyanju
Digital Editor, Charlotte

Do you read up on a company’s culture before accepting a job offer? You’re not alone—90% of employees research workplace culture before joining an organization. Clearly, culture is important to employees, but what is it exactly and how can it be embedded in the work that we do everyday? Melissa Daimler, chief learning officer of Udemy, says culture is not what happens in an office, but how work happens between people, and the observable actions that exemplify a company’s values. Be sure to check out the latest Author Talks interview to get insight on how employee interactions have become increasingly important in a world of remote work, and how your team can build a work model that honors your company’s beliefs and values.

Author Talks: Don’t skip the ‘soft stuff’

No more Ping-Pong breaks or office happy hours? No matter. Melissa Daimler shares how workplace culture can still thrive without an office.

Drive culture change

Quote of the day

“[We] also have to work really hard to overcome the strange narrative that just because you live in a rural place, you can’t code. Or just because you’re in a smaller community, you can’t come up with a new, innovative way to solve a big automation problem or a tech problem or creating rockets that work better.”

—Matt Dunne, founder and executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation, on shifting the narrative on rural America in a recent episode of McKinsey’s new Future of America podcast

Chart of the day

Chart detailing individuals starting in different occupations have varying degrees of reliance

See today’s chart

ALSO NEW

photo three generational family walking on beach

From saving to spending: A second front emerges in the US retirement challenge

While accumulation has long been a focus for pre-retirees, ensuring a consistent and sufficient stream of income through retirement is now a pressing need for many.

Improve readiness

Woman and baby daughter using a smartphone to communicate with the doctor.

Digital health: An opportunity to advance health equity

Digital health solutions have the potential to make healthcare more equitable. Here’s how innovators can deliver on that promise.

Make it fair

Creative coworkers chatting over ideas in office

The office of the future: A whole new (floor) plan

Revisiting your talent strategy for a hybrid world? Think hard about the purpose and design of your office space.

Embrace change

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by "McKinsey Daily Read" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 06:07 - 2 Aug 2022

Join me tomorrow to learn how to manage errors with New Relic

Hi MD

Phil Weber, senior technical training specialist at New Relic University, here. I'm checking in to invite you to the online workshop I'll host at 10 am BST tomorrow, 3 August: Error management in New Relic. The 90-minute hands-on workshop will walk you through the many ways New Relic can help you to manage errors in your applications.

Register for the workshop to learn how to configure and manage errors in APM, browser, and mobile applications. You will also learn how to use New Relic Errors Inbox to proactively detect, triage, and act on errors across your application stack, all in one place. While I recommend attending the live workshop, you can also register to be emailed the recording.

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Phil Weber

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by "Phil Weber, New Relic" <emeamarketing@newrelic.com> - 04:28 - 2 Aug 2022

Which attributes determine how well you perform?

On Point

TODAY'S NEWS. TOMORROW'S INSIGHTS.
A daily newsletter from McKinsey & Company

Edited by Belinda Yu
Editor, Atlanta

All about attributes

The news

•

Sibling rivalry. Older siblings don’t necessarily develop stronger leadership qualities than their younger siblings: just different ones, says one psychologist. Basking in their parents’ attention helps firstborns develop self-reliance and confidence. With youngest children, parents may be more relaxed, exposing them to a variety of experiences earlier in life. In response, these kids can become enthusiastic explorers. Meanwhile, middle children—who sometimes feel overlooked—often grow up to be strong, effective communicators. [CNBC]

•

No crying in business? Don’t be vulnerable, stop oversharing, and definitely don’t cry at the office, conventional wisdom goes. But after two years of weathering a global pandemic and blending our personal and work lives, employers can't expect employees to keep their emotions out of the workplace. Indeed, today’s workers want their managers to show empathy, according to a recent survey of 23,000 workers. Companies are looking for leaders with softer qualities like the ability to inspire teams, one executive reveals. [Fortune]

“Empathy, selflessness, authenticity, decisiveness, and accountability are behaviors that typically cause other people to say, ‘That is someone I would like to follow.’”

Our insights

•

Attributes, not skills. When faced with stress and uncertainty, who is the “real you” who shows up? How people perform in any given situation comes down to their attributes, not just skills, says retired Navy SEAL commander Rich Diviney. Characteristics like adaptability and situational awareness are innate to humans, but developing any attribute is possible. It takes placing yourself into environments that test that trait. To become more patient, go drive in traffic, or pick the longest line to wait in at the grocery store, Diviney suggests.

•

Being vulnerable is key. The highest-performing teams are surprisingly vulnerable with one another, Diviney, author of The Attributes: 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance, tells McKinsey. The best SEAL team members are all “incredibly open” to sharing individual strengths and weaknesses so that everyone understands exactly when they need to lean on one another. Read the full interview, part of McKinsey’s Author Talks series, to explore five categories of attributes that affect performance.

Learn about attributes

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by "McKinsey On Point" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 12:36 - 2 Aug 2022

Archives

in

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