A recently published article and podcast by McKinsey leaders Celia Huber and Kevin Sneader is provocative business reading and summer food for thought. Sneader discusses the new ideas and business models transforming industry landscapes. He says, “If I had to put a stake in the ground, I would point to eight trends that will shape the landscape ahead.”
- Innovation. This pandemic period has been a period of incredible innovation. But the first great work-from-home experiment occurred after the bubonic plague struck England. “It led the University of Cambridge to send its students home … a young student by the name of Isaac Newton sat in his garden and watched an apple fall. From there, the concept of gravity and other theories flowed that the world put into application. … I think what will happen in the years to come will occur because of the innovations taking place here and now.”
- Consumer behavior that sticks
- Climate change is probably the biggest opportunity of our generation in terms of the scale and scope of investment
- Health revolution in care, infrastructure, and medical sciences
- Government scrutiny increasing
- Corporate portfolio restructuring
- Supply chain shifting
- Return to air travel
According to the authors, the pace of change will increase because many of these trends were already in progress before Covid and have now accelerated.