How companies navigate the technology world to achieve competitive advantage is the defining business challenge of our time. It’s not a simple journey. As one CEO said, “We can find digital everywhere in our company but the bottom line.” For digital and AI to deliver on its potential, executives need to be ready and willing to undertake the organizational “surgery” required to become a digitally capable enterprise.
The answer is in rewiring your business so hundreds, if not thousands, of teams can harness technology to continuously create great customer experiences, lower unit costs, and generate value. Rewiring a business is a journey―one that executives will be on for the rest of their careers. This book is your how-to guide through the most important changes: how to align your team on transforming your core business, reskill your talent bench, implement a new operating model, build a distributed technology and data environment to power teams, and scale the value.
Written by the digital and AI leaders at McKinsey & Company, Rewired takes the lessons learned working with more than 200 large-scale B2C and B2B companies and translates them into step-by-step actions that have been proven to work. Tested, iterated, reworked, and tested again over the years, Rewired is the detailed playbook McKinsey’s own consultants use. It contains diagnostic assessments, operating model designs, technology and data architecture diagrams, how-to checklists, best practices, and detailed implementation methods, all exemplified with case studies and illustrated with 100 exhibits.
Rewired is a practitioner’s guide for leaders who are ready to do the hard work needed to outcompete in the age of digital and AI.
From the Back Cover
Praise for REWIRED
“Rewired will become the go-to playbook for people who want to harness digital innovation to drive competitive business outcomes.”
―DR. ALBERT BOURLA, Chairman and CEO, Pfizer
“In typical McKinsey fashion, this insightful book makes the challenge of tech-enabled transformations all the more approachable and actionable.”
―CHUA (“SK”) SOCK KOONG, Board at Bharti Airtel, Prudential, Royal Philips, Ayala Corporation; former CEO, Singtel
“An absolute must-read for any executive with aspirations for leading a multinational company.”
―MARTIN SHANKLAND, Executive Board Member for Global Operations, adidas
“This book gives insight into the capabilities and frameworks needed to win.”
―JULIE DILLMAN, EVP, Chubb Group; Senior Executive, Operations and Technology, and Digital Transformation Officer
“Rewired is written with a practitioner’s eye and provides a clear roadmap for building your enterprise capabilities and concrete examples that will greatly increase your organization’s odds of success.”
―JEFF HARMENING, Chairman and CEO, General Mills
“Rewired shows the way forward by not just clarifying the role of technology, but also showing how to apply the technology in order to achieve a competitive advantage.”
―DR. MARKUS KREBBER, CEO, RWE AG
“A must-read for any organization looking to stay competitive in the digital age.”
―MATT ANDERSON, Chief Digital Officer, The Carlyle Group
“Lamarre, Smaje, and Zemmel have undertaken a unique service to cut through the complexity of digital and AI transformations and make it navigable.”
―CHUCK MAGRO, CEO, Corteva Agriscience
“To stay competitive and at the forefront of any industry, businesses must continuously adapt and evolve with technology. Rewired tackles the key question of how.”
―ROBIN VINCE, President and CEO, BNY Mellon
About the Author
ERIC LAMARRE is a senior partner and leads McKinsey Digital in North America. He is an engineer by training and worked in research at MIT on water waves and underwater acoustics before joining McKinsey. Eric has pioneered the development of McKinsey’s Digital & AI client service methodologies and published extensively on the topic. He previously served as managing partner of McKinsey Canada. Eric is on the board of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation. He is married and has two wonderful daughters.
KATE SMAJE is a senior partner at McKinsey and the global co-leader of McKinsey Digital. A history major at heart, Kate has spent the past 20+ years at McKinsey working with B2C companies. A frequent speaker and publisher on digital topics, she also works with clients across geographies and sectors to marry the power of technology and AI with the human change required to leap forward. She has experience as a chief technology officer and a self-proclaimed geeky interest in technology, continuous learning, and developing people. Kate is a trustee of Tommy’s, the London-based children’s charity.
RODNEY ZEMMEL is a senior partner at McKinsey and is the global co-leader of McKinsey Digital. He has served as the managing partner for McKinsey’s New York and northeast offices in the United States, and led McKinsey’s Healthcare Practice, working with clients in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and healthcare services. He is a recognized thought leader and previously co-authored the book Go Long: Why Long-Term Thinking Is Your Best Short-Term Strategy. Rodney started out as a molecular biologist and now partners with clients on digital transformations, AI, technology productivity, and digital business building.