McKinsey Quarterly
McKinsey on Strategy Newsletter: Leadership lessons for hard times
Third Quarter 2009

This issue of McKinsey on Strategy continues to explore the implications of the global economic downturn for strategists and leaders. In the new article “Leadership lessons for hard times,” 14 CEOs offer advice on how to lead effectively during crises.

One critical issue for corporate leaders today is regaining public trust, a topic addressed in “Rebuilding corporate reputations.” Another is improving their understanding of risk and interdependencies in complex systems, an issue covered in “‘‘Power curves’: What natural and economic disasters have in common.” Today’s environment also is creating strategic discontinuities, which UCLA professor Richard Rumelt and McKinsey’s Lowell Bryan discuss in “Setting strategy in the new era.” Pursuing those opportunities means combining an understanding of changes afoot today with timeless business principles, such as how to make strategic choices that reinforce a company’s value proposition at each stage of product creation and delivery—from product development to sales and service. A new interactive framework, “Enduring Ideas: The business system,” offers a refresher on this concept.

Best wishes,
Allen Webb
Board of Editors, McKinsey Quarterly

July 2009
Leadership lessons for hard times
A series of interviews with 14 CEOs and chairmen of major companies sheds light on the foundations of corporate leadership.

June 2009
Rebuilding corporate reputations
A perfect storm has hit the standing of big business. Companies must step up their reputation-management efforts in response.

June 2009
Setting strategy in the new era: A conversation with Lowell Bryan and Richard Rumelt
In this final installment of a three-part series, Professor Richard Rumelt and McKinsey’s Lowell Bryan reflect on the strategic opportunities emerging as value shifts within and between economic sectors.

June 2009
‘Power curves’: What natural and economic disasters have in common
Parallels between the failures of man-made systems, such as the economy, and of similarly complex natural ones offer fascinating food for thought.

June 2009
Enduring Ideas: The business system
This interactive presentation shows how companies can use the business system to evaluate their choices at each stage in the process of creating and delivering products. Aligning conduct at every step with the company’s value proposition creates a truly integrated business strategy.