An Update

I wrapped up my stint at Columbia Journalism School at the end of 2019, after helping the School hire new leads for the Knight Bagehot Fellowship (Ann Grimes) and the Sulzberger Fellowships & Emerging News Leaders from Asia-Pacific Programs (Corey Ford.) I very much enjoyed my time at Columbia University, helping reshape and re-imagine the journalism programs I was involved with, and get some new initiatives off the ground, all focused on business journalism and the business of journalism. I am particularly pleased about leaving the Knight Bagehot Fellowships in a much stronger footing, with record scholarship money raised, a higher profile globally, a new emphasis on diversity, and much better connected to contemporary needs of business journalists through its revamped advisory board and curriculum.

I am returning to the world of business publishing, as Global Publishing Director Elect at McKinsey and Company. I will fully take over the role in the Summer, when Rik Kirkland, who heads up publishing now, retires from the Firm after a remarkable run spearheading significant growth.

What is McKinsey publishing, you might ask?

It has a very long history, going back to the McKinsey Quarterly, which started a few years before I was born. Over the years, publishing at McKinsey has expanded to include www.McKinsey.com, which offers articles, reports, videos, and other multimedia from across industry and functional practices, as well as offerings from the independent McKinsey Global Institute. At last count, McKinsey Publishing offers 38 regular newsletters, ranging from the daily On Point and weekly Spotlight, to a whole slew of occasional ones based on industry/functional topics. There is a nascent weekly podcast, and several multimedia offerings aimed at busy business professionals, such as The Next Normal https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/the-next-normal and the Five Fifty, which is a 5 minute briefing coupled with a 50-minute deep dive on the same topic https://www.mckinsey.com/quarterly/the-five-fifty. And plenty of social media offerings, on Twitter (@McKinsey @MckQuarterly @McKinseyDigital @McKinsey_MGI); LinkedIn (https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/mckinsey/); Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/McKinsey); and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/mckinseyco/?)

There is also McKinsey Insights free apps, available on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices, that provide mobile access to the same McKinsey knowledge on the most challenging issues facing business managers today.

In all, all these free-to-subscribe publications now reach tens of millions of people across many platforms and devices, an audience that continues to organically grow each year, globally.

Here are a few, recent examples of the kind of work the global McKinsey Publishing team--mostly editors who have typically come from business journalism backgrounds, a Copy Desk, a Social + Audience team--publishes:

Meet Dexter, a surgical robot that allows surgeons to toggle quickly between robotic and manual operations

https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/new-at-mckinsey-blog/a-peek-into-the-future-of-surgery

When can you trust your intuition? Daniel Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics, warns not to take it at face value. Gary Klein, a prominent psychologist, argues that it often supports good decision-making under high pressure. How to decide: mck.co/2tL1180

Why you should care about Quantum Computing. First, you might want to get to know what that really means. mck.co/2SMeF37

Here were the Top 10 articles, by readership, from 2019 that the team published:

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Email/Top-Ten/2020/2020-01-04b-TopTen.html?

And some big themes that were explored via McKinsey Publishing:

Women in The Workplace--2019

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/gender-equality/women-in-the-workplace-2019

The Future of Work in America

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-america-people-and-places-today-and-tomorrow

Climate Change

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability/our-insights/climate-risk-and-response-physical-hazards-and-socioeconomic-impacts

Do feel free to check it out and sign up for topics of interest if you want to here:

https://www.mckinsey.com/user-registration/manage-account/edit-subscriptions

Would love your feedback, as I get my head and arms around the role.

It is an interesting time to join McKinsey, for a whole slew of reasons. They have been in the news a lot more in the last year or so, than in recent past. My conversations with many of McKinsey’s key decision-makers gave me a keen sense of what will continue to evolve and change for the better, and what enduring—and still relevant—core values won’t shift, at the 94-year-old firm. That I have many friends, over the years, who have worked--and still work--at McKinsey was also a strong influencing factor. A bit more here for those who are interested on what is happening at McKinsey these days: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/op-ed-the-mckinsey-i-hope-the-world-gets-to-know.html

I am really excited to work with smart and very talented colleagues on a range of new topics and digital platforms, bringing my relevant experience from three decades in journalism and publishing organizations. Especially in the past decade, I have mostly tried to find better ways to combine contemporary relevance with the longevity of iconic brands, something I will continue to do in this role at McKinsey. And, as often the case when I tackle new personal challenges, this move more than fully addressed the question that I always try to answer: “When is the last time I did something for the first time?”

Thank you

Raju