Its been a pretty wild year in the world of advertising and brand work.
Amid broader industry shifts, there has been some incredible brand work created this year across many different platforms, film, experiences, and more. But as we bring 2025 to a close, I wanted to take a more targeted look at some of the best commercials of this year.
Ive tried to adhere to criteria that includes level of difficulty, creative inventiveness, risk, and sheer entertainment. Despite how much great work is out there, sadly, most advertising can be generously categorized as cultural wallpaper. But these select few pieces of brand werent a waste of timethey made me laugh, think, and, yes, crave a fast-casual margarita.
Lets dive in, shall we?
Best Social Commentary Commercial for a Meat
Australian Lamb The Comments Section
What is it about Australian Lamb? And Im not even talking about the meat. The Aussie meat producer marketer is making a habit of crafting hilarious social commentary while hyping the taste and quality of its young sheep.
This year, it holds a mirror up to online culture and the absurdity of how people act in the comments compared to IRL.
The results are simply delicious.
Best Self-Aware AI Commercial That Absolutely No one Should Copy But Many Will
Kalshi The Worlds Gone Mad
If you were watching the NBA playoffs when this ad aired, youd be excused if you thought someone snuck some shrooms in your beer glass. Unhinged doesnt even begin to describe how the prediction market platform Kalshi went about introducing itself to the broader American public.
Hilarious, wild, and an absolute AI-generated nightmare, the spot immediately grabbed attention, but also burned the bridge of shock-and-awe AI ads behind it. Any other spot that tries to use this approach will just be a copycatsee: McDonalds now-pulled European holiday spot. Im definitely not a fan of AI slop advertising, but here Kalshi sets the bar for AI as a creative ad gimmick.
Bonus points here for the equally funny behind-the-scenes spot that quickly followed online.
Best Reinterpretation of a Classic Tagline
Nike Why Do It?
When Walt Stack ran across the Golden Gate Bridge in Nikes first commercial, Just Do It became the tagline and philosophy that propelled the swoosh to become an iconic global brand. Now almost 40 years later, Nike needed to remind a new generation what Just Do It actually means.
Launched in September, the brands campaign was called Why do it?, and it took aim at the pervasiveness of cringe culture, which often frames earnest effort as uncool. Those three words mean so much to us, but we cant just be holier-than-thou about it, Nike chief marketing officer Nicole Graham told me at the time. We have to make sure that those three words are resonating with each generation.
Narrated by Tyler, the Creator, and starring a laundry list of star athletes, this was a stylish way to bridge the brands heritage as an iconic advertiser, with a modern message that shouldnt get old.
Best Blockbuster Video Game Commercial
Battlefield 6 Live Action Trailer
Created with agency Mother LA, the video game giant appears to be bringing Battlefield 6 squads to life with the help of Zac Efron, NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, chart topper Morgan Wallen, and MMA fighter Paddy Pimblett. It harkens back to the days when Call of Duty enlisted Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel (2010), or Jonah Hill and Avatars Sam Worthington (2012) to hype its new releases. Except the celebs in this spot only last for about three seconds.
Set to Smashing Pumpkins Bullet with Butterfly Wings, it quickly becomes clear that the game doesn’t need to rely on the celebrity of Efron, Butler, Wallen, and Pimblett, but its strength is actually in the community of everyday players that make it what it is.
A clever play on a classic gaming trope to help launch a blockbuster.
Best Meta Movie Marketing Award
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” opened with $345 million in worldwide sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, notching the second-best global debut of the year and potentially putting James Cameron on course to set yet more blockbuster records.Sixteen years into the “Avatar” saga, Pandora is still abundant in box-office riches. “Fire and Ash,” the third film in Cameron’s science-fiction franchise, launched with $88 million domestically and $257 million internationally. The only film to open bigger in 2025 was “Zootopia 2” ($497.2 million over three days). In the coming weeks, “Fire and Ash” will have the significant benefit of the highly lucrative holiday moviegoing corridor.But there was a tad less fanfare to this “Avatar” film, coming three years after “Avatar: The Way of Water.” That film launched in 2022 with a massive $435 million globally and $134 million in North America. Domestically, “Fire and Ash” fell a hefty 35% from the previous installment. Reviews for “Fire and Ash” were also more mixed, scoring a series-low 68% “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes.Yet those quibbles are only a product of the lofty standards of “Avatar.” The first two films rank as two of the three biggest box-office films of all time. To reach those heights, the “Avatar” films have depended on legs more than huge openings.“Avatar” (2009), opened with $77 million domestically but held the top spot for seven weeks. It ultimately grossed $2.92 billion worldwide. “The Way of Water” also held strong to eventually tally $2.3 billion globally.
James Cameron, right, director and co-writer of “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” poses with his wife Suzy Amis Cameron at the premiere of the film on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. [Photo: Chris Pizzello/AP Photo]
“The openings are not what the ‘Avatar’ movies are about,” said David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers. “It’s what they do after they open that made them the no. 2 and no. 3 biggest films of all time.”For “Fire and Ash” to follow in those footsteps, it will need robust ticket sales to continue for weeks. Working in its favor so far: strong word-of-mouth. Audiences gave it an “A” CinemaScore.In interviews, Cameron has repeatedly said “Fire and Ash” needs to perform well for there to be subsequent “Avatar” films. (Four and five are already written but not greenlit.) These are exceptionally expensive movies to make. With a production budget of at least $400 million, “Fire and Ash” is one of the costliest movies ever made.“James Cameron is not known for his low budget movies,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “You can’t exactly create the world of Pandora on the cheap. If you’re going to have a 3D movie, an epic film that’s three hours and 17 minutes, it’s a huge buy-in of money, time, resources, and then you have to hope the audience wants to once again go along on that ride.”“Fire and Ash” was especially boosted by premium format showings, which accounted for 66% of its opening weekend. A narrow majority of moviegoers (56%) chose to watch it in 3D.The “Avatar” films have always been especially popular overseas. “Fire and Ash” was strongest in China, where its $57.6 million opening weekend surpassed the two previous movies.
‘David’ overperforms and ‘Marty Supreme’ sets a record
“Fire and Ash” didn’t have the weekend entirely to itself. A trio of other new wide releases made it into theaters in hopes of offering some counterprogramming: Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid,” Angel Studios’ “David” and Paramount Pictures’ “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.”In the race for second place, “David” came out on top. The animated tale of David and Goliath collected $22 million from 3,118 theaters, notching the best opening weekend for Angel Studios, the Christian-oriented studio that emerged with 2023’s surprise hit “Sound of Freedom.”“The Housemaid,” Paul Feig’s twisty psychological thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, opened with $19 million 3,015 theaters. The Lionsgate release, which cost about $35 million to make, is set up well to be one of the top R-rated options in theaters over the holidays. Based on Freida McFadden’s bestselling novel, it stars Sweeney as a woman with a troubled past who becomes a live-in maid for a wealthy family.Trailing the pack was “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” which collected $16 million from 3,557 theaters. The G-rated film, based on the Nickelodeon TV series, is the first “SpongeBob” theatrical movie since 2015’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.”All of this weekend’s new films will hope the ticket sales keep rolling in over the upcoming Christmas break. Starting Dec. 25, they’ll need to contend with some new wide releases, including A24’s “Marty Supreme,” with Timothée Chalamet; Focus Features’ “Song Sung Blue,” with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson; and Sony’s “Anaconda,” with Jack Black and Paul Rudd.Before expanding on Christmas, “Marty Supreme” opened in six theaters over the weekend, grossing $875,000 or $145,000 per theater. That was good enough for not only the best per-theater average of the year, but the best since 2016 and a new high mark for A24. The film, directed by Josh Safdie and starring Chalamet as an aspiring table tennis player in 1950s New York, is the most expensive ever for A24.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
“Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $88 million.
“David,” $22 million.
“The Housemaid,” $19 million.
“The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants,” $16 million.
“Zootopia 2,” $14.5 million.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” $7.3 million.
“Wicked: For Good,” $4.3 million.
“Dhurandhar,” $2.5 million.
“Marty Supreme,” $875,000.
“Hamnet,” $850,000.
Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer
Power was restored Sunday to the bulk of the 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco impacted by a massive outage a day earlier that caused major disruptions in the city.About 17,000 customers remained without power as of noon Sunday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said. PG&E said earlier its crews were working to restore electricity in several neighborhoods and small areas of downtown San Francisco following Saturday’s outage.PG&E in a statement said it expects to restore power to remaining customers no later than 2 p.m. Monday.“The damage from the fire in our substation was significant and extensive, and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex,” the utility said, referring to the substation at 8th and Mission streets. That fire has been blamed for some of the blackouts. The outage remains under investigation.PG&E said it mobilized additional engineers and electricians to help with restoration efforts.“This is a very complex work plan and will require the highest amount of safety focus to ensure safe work actions,” PG&E said. No injuries have been reported.The outage, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on Saturday, left a large swath of the northern part of the city without power that began to grow in size. At its peak, the outage represented roughly one-third of the utility company’s customers in the city.At about 4 p.m. on Saturday, PG&E posted on X that it had stabilized the grid and no further outages were expected.Social media posts and local media reported mass closures of restaurants and shops and darkened street lights and Christmas decorations on Saturday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said on X there were “significant transit disruptions” happening citywide and urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and treat down traffic signals as four-way stops. Waymo, the operator of driverless ride-hailing vehicles, suspended its services. At least one video posted on social media appeared to show a Waymo vehicle stopped in the middle of an intersection.
Jaimie Ding and Susan Haigh, Associated Press
Shares in Rocket Lab Corp were heading for their second day of gains on Monday after the aerospace manufacturer was named as one of four companies that will build tracking satellites for the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA).
The stock (Nasdaq: RKLB) was up more than 4% in premarket trading on Monday as of this writing. That’s in addition to a jump of 17% on Friday when the news was announced. Share are now trading at record highs.
What did the Space Development Agency announce?
The SDA, a unit of the United States Space Force, said on Friday that it awarded four companies with contracts to build 72 satellitesor 18 apiecewith the aim of expanding missile tracking and defense systems. The total value of the award is $3.5 billion.
In addition to Rocket Lab, the SDA also named Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris Technologies. The constellation of satellites is expected to launch in 2029.
Long Beach California-based Rocket Lab has been gaining more attention recently for its Electron orbital rocket, which is lighter than the heavier vehicles manufactured by rivals SpaceX and Blue Origin.
As Fast Company previously reported, the Electron’s lightweight nature gives it an edge in certain complex missions where precision and speed are prioritized.
A head-turning market rebound
After going public during the ill-fated SPAC craze of 2021, Rocket Lab stock struggled to rise above $10 a share. It limped along for well over three years.
But the stock has really broken out this year as excitement has grown around satellite buildouts and Rocket Lab executed successful launches for companies like Kinéis, a French operator of internet-of-things satellites.
For its third-quarter financial results released last month, Rocket Lab reported record revenue of $155 million and said it had secured a record 17 Electron launch contracts.
The company reported a net loss of $18.3 million for the second quarter, much narrower than the $52 million net loss it reported a year earlier.
As of Friday, Rocket Lab’s stock was up more than 182% year to date and was trading at $70.52 a share.
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
From technological advances and geopolitical changes to workplace culture shifts and market pressures, 2025 has been a year of change, uncertainty, and disruption.
Im Gwen Moran, and for nearly three years as Modern CEOs editor, Ive had a front-row seat as Mansueto Ventures CEO and Chief Content Officer Stephanie Mehta talks to business leaders and experts to help CEOs navigate the modern world. Every year, I recap some of the key insights from a year of interviews with the array of leaders featured in the newsletter. Here are four themes that we saw repeatedly in 2025.
Uncertainty and change were everywhere
Leaders faced nearly constant changeand more than a few curveballsthis year. When E.l.f. Beauty CEO Tarang Amin was named inaugural Modern CEO of the Year near the end of 2024, little did he know that tariffs, blowback over an influencer scandal, and attacks on the diversity efforts that E.l.f. champions were awaiting him in the coming months. When we asked CEOs to share their thoughts on leading during times of great uncertainty, we got responses representing industries from architecture to pharmaceuticals.
Some of the changes we saw this year will have lasting ripple effects. Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman talked about closing one of the worlds largest and most well-known philanthropies over the next two decades. What had become an annual check-in with former SAIC CEO Toni Townes-Whitley was canceled after she and the company parted ways, leaving TIAAs Thasunda Brown Duckett as the only Black woman currently leading a Fortune 500 company.
AI still dominates the conversation
One of the most pressing mandates many CEOs face is figuring out how to realize the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). And they were forthcoming about their opportunities and challenges this year. Weber Shandwick CEO Jim OLeary discussed how his firms multifaceted AI use is giving him back what most leaders value most: time. OLeary estimates that AI saves him one to two hours per day.
This spring, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach said the quiet part out loud when he discussed how his company made head count cuts to invest in AI. Then, during the summer, seven leading C-level execs gave us a peek at how they are using AI to do their own jobs.
Regardless of their path, leaders dont succeed in a bubble
This years reporting showed us that there are many paths to the CEOs office, from intern to chief financial officerand even a comeback story as former Beautycounter CEO Gregg Renfrew took the reins at her new beauty company, Counter.
Despite their different backgrounds, they have one thing in common: They need great people around them to succeed. Leaders shared insights about performance management, the importance of strategic partnerships, the challenges of keeping CEOs safe, and what happens next in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Additionally, one of our top-performing pieces was about how boards need to focus more on their No. 1 job: succession planning.
Creativity and community fuel growth
Modern CEO dropped dispatches from Cannes Lions in June. It was clear that this Festival of Creativity has grown into an important event for CEOs. As Shelley Zalis, founder and CEO of the Female Quotient, a community of women in business, put it: Any CEO who wants to grow, innovate, and stay culturally relevant will benefit from being here. The importance of creativity is a message AKQA Global CEO Baiju Shah discusses with the next-generation business leaders he teaches at Northwestern University. He believes that a fusion of technology and creativity is essential for businesses, especially in the age of AI.
Another recurring theme in this years coverage was community. Cult brand co-CEO AJ Kumaran, who heads chicken chain Raising Canes, attributes his companys success to a rigorous focus on its community. And your community includes your team, too: WorkJam CEO Steven Kramer explained how enlisting the wisdom of frontline workers can help you find market insights and solutions.
What lessons did you take away from Modern CEO in 2025?
Were there issues of Modern CEO that helped you or gave you something to think about this year? Wed love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts in an email message to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com.
Read more: other Modern CEO highlights
Conscious capitalism isnt dead
Why your companys next CEO might be a multi-hyphenate
Modern CEO readers share their thoughts on top leaders
When I talk with business leaders about Gen Z, the same frustration often bubbles up: They wont stay. Its said with a kind of bewildered shrug, as if the younger generation has suddenly rewritten the rules out of thin air. I heard it again last week during a radio segment I did about generational dynamics at work. The host asked why Gen Z feels so comfortable moving on so quickly.
Heres what Ive learned after a decade teaching them, coaching them, and watching them navigate the workplace: Gen Z doesnt think theyre doing anything unusual. And frankly, once you look at the data, its hard to argue with them.
A new Youngstown State University study of 1,000 full-time U.S. professionals found that nearly half of Gen Z workers are already planning to leave their jobsnot for higher pay, but for better growth. That is the highest rate of all generations surveyed.
Its not impulsiveness. Its not disloyalty. Its something far more reasonable. Its “growth hunting.”
What Companies Assumeand Whats Actually Happening
Theres a familiar script about young workers: Theyre too quick to leave, too impatient, too everything. That narrative has been around for so long that many leaders use it as the default explanation without thinking.
But when nearly one out of two early-career workers say they cant picture a future where they are, that points to something systemicnot personal.
Heres what the data actually shows.
Eighty-six percent of Gen Z say they wont pursue upskilling unless their employer helps pay for it. Thats not a lack of drive. Thats the reality of trying to build a career while carrying historic student debt and paying rent that climbs faster than wages.
Forty-three percent say theyre too burnt out to take on education outside of work. Thats not an excuse. Thats a sign that the modern workload has pushed people to their limit long before you ever ask them to add night classes.
And seventy-six percent say the main thing blocking their advancement is costnot interest, not effort, not ambition. Cost.
Taken together, the message is straightforward: This generation isnt avoiding responsibility. Theyre asking employers to share it.
Why Growth Hunting Makes Sense Right Now
Older generations built careers around staying put and climbing step by step. That path made sense when wages matched living costs and companies offered predictable ladders.
Gen Z is coming of age in a completely different economy. Careers dont unfold in neat lines anymore. Skills expire quickly. Entire industries shift in a few years. And the price of staying competitive keeps climbing. So Gen Z does the logical thing: They move toward the places where they can grow.
Theyre not chasing titles. Theyre chasing momentum.
Every semester, I watch students who are smart, thoughtful, and deeply motivated figure out how to build a career in a landscape that changes constantly. Theyre not waiting for permission. But they will absolutely walk if an employer refuses to invest in them. And honestly, thats rational.
Growth hunting is not about impatience. Its about survival.
The Leadership Miss That Keeps Repeating
For years, companies have preached the language of development and continuous learning. Theyve told young employees to take initiative, expand their skills, stay ahead.
Gen Z listened. And now they want to know why the bill for that development keeps landing on their doorstep.
You cant ask workers to level up and then close the door to the support they need to do it. You cant talk about retention and then offer no path forward. You cant position upskilling as essential and then make it unaffordable.
This is where the generational disconnect becomes obvious. Companies say they want a future-ready workforce. Gen Z is asking them to mean it.
A Cultural Standoff That Was Bound to Happen
This feels like the moment where the values of Gen Z and the habits of corporate culture finally collide. Not because Gen Z is rebelling, but because theyre taking organizations at their word.
If you say you value growth, you have to create it. If you say you care about development, you have to invest in it.
Otherwise, Gen Z will simply walk toward someone who does.
And heres the twist: They dont feel guilty about it. Theyre not sneaking out the back door. Theyre leaving through the fronthead highbecause the expectations were never mutual to begin with.
What Employers Can Do
This doesnt require an overhaul. It just takes intention. And while every organization is different, here are a few approaches that can make a real difference.
Put money behind upskilling. Even partial funding shifts the relationship.
Make advancement transparent. When people have to guess, they eventually stop trying.
Tackle burnout before talking development. Growth cant happen when people are running on empty.
Promote based on readiness rather than time served. Tenure alone doesnt tell you whos capable.
Ask employees what growth actually means to them. The answers are often more practical than leaders expect.
These arent the only steps, but theyre a meaningful start. And theyre far more achievable than most leaders realize.
The Future Belongs to the Growth Hunters
Gen Z isnt running from work. Theyre running toward growth. They know what it costs to stay still, and theyre not willing to pay that price. Not anymore. They arent rejecting the workplace. Theyre asking it to evolve with them.
When employers offer real development, this generation will show up with incredible commitment. When they dont, Gen Z moves on with the same honesty and clarity they bring to everything else. That clarity is a gift if leaders choose to use it.Because building a workplace where people can grow isnt just good for Gen Z. Its good for everyone.
If a single type of building could define our present time, it would undoubtedly be the data center. Underpinning the increasingly online way we work, shop, and entertain ourselves, data centers provide the computing power and storage to handle all the Zoom calls, Amazon purchases, and Netflix streams a person can cram into their day. And now as compute-hungry artificial intelligence dominates the future of nearly every sector of the economyand possibly society as a wholethe data center will become even more ubiquitous.
A headlong data center building boom is already underway. One report finds that average monthly spending on data centers has increased 400% in the last two years, adding up to more than $50 billion in 2025 alone. One tally contends that there were more than 1,200 data centers either built or approved for construction in the U.S. by the end of 2024; another suggests the total number of data centers in the U.S. is now more than 4,100.
The scale and spread of data center building is staggering, and there seems to be no end in sight. All of this is why it’s so disappointing that the design of data center architecture is, by and large, very, very boring.
[Photo: halbergman/Getty Images]
The typical data center looks something like this: a cluster of large, rectangular warehouses 15 or 20 feet tall, each covering about the area of a professional soccer field. The building’s walls are usually made from tilt-up concrete panels with little adornment. There are few windows, and if there were more they would look out on large outdoor clusters of equipment for cooling equipment, electricity generation, and wastewater treatment.
Increasingly, the entire complex is surrounded by security fencing or even opaque walls. For anyone passing by or living in their vicinity, there may be little to see beyond the data center’s unending nighttime glow. For what could be considered the most important buildings of the decade, this is a decidedly dull aesthetic. It is the architecture of value engineering and the minimum viable product.
The companies behind these facilities would argue that data centers are more like utilities or infrastructure and therefore don’t need the kind of design a more public-facing building would. But even when these data centers are not located near large communitiesthough many actually arehow they look can send a powerful message about their owners’ sense of responsibility for their many downsides.
A missed opportunity
By now, the negative externalities of big data centers are well known. From their excessive energy use to their inflationary impacts on local electricity rates to their deep thirst for water to the sheer size of their sprawling campuses, the costs of the data center building boom can feel excessively high, especially in the face of hallucinating chatbots, disinformation campaigns, and unavoidable AI slop.
In this light, the warehouse design approach of most data centers is the architectural equivalent of burying one’s head in the sand, a supermax prison tucked out in the boondocks, far from any discourse over mass incarceration or human rights. The boring design of data centers is a missed opportunity to counter their negative externalities with at least a little upside.
[Photo: courtesy of Gensler]
There are some data centers that are offering glimpses of what a better design could be. Some data companies and spec builders are turning to large and renowned architecture firms to add an extra layer of design to what can be fairly cookie cutter buildings meant primarily to house computers. Some designs are emphasizing natural light and natural materials in their small but important human-centric office and entry spaces.
Others are prioritizing new building materials and server cooling equipment that lowers both the embedded and operational carbon impacts of the facilities. Still others are blending themselves into dense urban locations, bringing smaller scale data centers closer to specific types of users. Some look like modern office complexes. If they weren’t so big, some even look like they could hold a high end restaurant or retaier.
But for every data center trying to soften its blow on society, there are dozens, if not hundreds, that are spreading as much computing power over as large an area possible that can draw in the enough resources to get the servers up and whirring as soon as possible. This looks to be the predominant developmental strategy. Design is largely an afterthought.
[Photo: Gerville/iStock/Getty Images Plus]
AI companies and other so-called hyperscalers are scrambling for suitable building sites near electricity generation and transmission lines, making it likely that data centers will edge closer and closer to preexisting communities. This proximity will increase the need for more sensitive design approaches. Some better design is happening now. As the building boom carries on, much more will be needed.
The companies behind the AI race have been unambiguous about AI’s potential to dramatically reshape society. If that’s true (the jury is still very much out), perhaps those companies could spend a bit more effort signaling AI’s importance by making its vast and growing physical footprint less of a total bore.
A few weeks ago, I led a leadership workshop for a group of executive women leaders in Birmingham, Alabama. Before I begin leadership workshops, I ask the participants what they want out of our time together. This year, one answer has emerged consistently on top: connection.This isnt surprising. As executives rise to higher levels of leadership, they often report increased feelings of loneliness. One Harvard Business Review survey found that 55% of CEOs acknowledge experiencing moderate but significant bouts of loneliness, while 25% report frequent feelings of loneliness. As your expertise becomes more specialized, it can be harder to find other leaders who understand the unique challenges of the corporate environment, with whom you can connect, learn from, and grow alongside. This is especially true for women leaders, as finding them in the senior ranks becomes less frequent the higher they climb. According to McKinsey, only 29% of C-suite leaders are women.
As an entrepreneur, I’ve felt this, too. As my business grew, I realized that I didn’t have any coworkers to confide in, lean on, and seek counsel from. I had to create this network on my own. I’ve joined business groups, leadership retreats, and mastermind groups to create this support circle.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A LEADERSHIP SUPPORT STRUCTURE
As you advance at work, you can find yourself feeling more alone in the decision-making rooms. For example, if you manage the people who were once your peers and your relationship has evolved, this often means you can no longer rely on them for support as you used to.
Challenging emotions also arise as your level of decision-making becomes larger and the stakes rise. Neuroscience research shows that when people make decisions under pressure, the brain shifts from thoughtful, deliberate thinking to more automatic, emotion-driven responses. This makes leaders more vulnerable to biased or short-term choices. However, research also shows that strong social support actually dampens the brains threat response under pressure, helping leaders think more clearly and make better decisions.In the era of AI, nurturing relationships is even more essential. One large-scale study on 6,000 UK employees found that technologies like AI are associated with a poorer quality of life. A 2023 analysis in Business Insider also warns that AI tools may make us lonelier at work by replacing quick check-ins with colleagues. Many of my clients echo this sentiment, saying things like, With the rise of AI, I am constantly wondering if things are fake. Because of this, I crave real relationships more than ever.Relationships are not only essential for combating loneliness, but they are also how deals get done, projects get awarded, and people get promoted. Here are some ways to prioritize them, even in the face of digital distraction.
LEVERAGE YOUR SUPPORTERS
Your supporters are the people in the organization who would advocate for you when you are not in the room (and you know it). They have your best interests at heart, and you have built solid relationship capital with them. Supporters are also the people who will give you unfiltered feedback that is focused on helping you advance. A good way to leverage your supporters is by asking them to socialize and support initiatives you may be launching. They can also play a critical role in helping you build new relationships in the organization and nurture strained relationships. However, before reaching out, consider what you can offer the relationship in return.
CULTIVATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH NEUTRALS
Neutrals are people in the organization whom you dont know yet, or dont know well. Maybe they are new, you are new, or you just havent crossed paths yet. Organizational network scholars like Ronald Burt have repeatedly shown that people whose relationships bridge otherwise disconnected groups (what he refers to as structural holes) receive higher performance evaluations and compensation, because they sit at key points of information and influence in the network. This is why neutrals in key stakeholder positions are critical to build relationships with. One strategy my clients enjoy using to build relationships with neutrals is called a 30:30 meeting. This is an opportunity to invite someone to a meeting or coffee. Thirty minutes are spent understanding them, their vision, goals, and offering your expertise in a way that might help them. The remaining 30 minutes are spent focused on your needs or area of expertise. The key to success in thee meetings is that the focus is always on advancing shared goals and values.
REBUILD CONNECTIONS WITH CHALLENGING PARTNERS
Nearly every executive client I work with has one or two leaders with whom there exists some tension. It could be because individuals frequently stand in the way of their project implementations, or they consistently deny the resources they need to accomplish the work. Strained relationships are a normal occurrence when you work with people whose personalities differ from yours. However, as you advance in leadership, rebuilding these relationships will be essential to accomplish work and leverage organizational resources.
To rebuild relationships, ask yourself: Do my challenging partners have good relationships with any of my supporters? Your supporters can often be bridge builders here. If you dont have supporters who can act as bridge builders, this can be a good opportunity to cultivate and strengthen your relationship with neutrals. In times of conflict with challenging partners, it can also be helpful to focus on shared business goals and values, rather than defaulting to your fundamental differences.
NURTURE YOUR NETWORK BEYOND WORK
As an executive coach, the first place I direct clients to is their immediate network of leaders (old colleagues or current colleagues). However, there are also great connection opportunities that you can leverage from your loose network. The next place I encourage them to look is their industry or professional affiliated groups. Because there is a shared common interest of the type of work you do, this is a great place to foster connection through participating in conferences, meet-ups or even online forums. Another example is asking a mutual friend for an introduction to someone whose work you admire.
The most effective leaders are not the most self-sufficient, but they often are the most connected. In a world where digital technology and AI are shrinking everyday interactions, relationships become your most valuable and tangible resources.
The recent announcement by McKinsey & Company that it plans to cut roughly 10% of its workforce has sent ripples through the consulting world, reigniting debate about the future of the industry. This is not about one firm, one round of layoffs, or one business cycle. It signals an irreversible shift in how value is created in consulting.
Having spent a significant part of my career at McKinsey, I saw it grow and flourish in an era when information was scarce. Even basic market intelligence required large teams working for months to gather and synthesize data. The digital age brought a data explosion and democratized access, and McKinsey adapted again by expanding its capabilities into advanced analytics and technology-enabled transformation.
That advantage is now under pressure in the AI age.
The existential threat in the AI age
While the digital age reduced information asymmetry, the AI age goes further. It increasingly equalizes analytical and recommendation capabilities. Firms like McKinsey built a powerful competitive moat by hiring the best analytical minds from top universitiesexcelling at data synthesis, first-principles problem-solving, and translating insight into recommendations. In the AI age, however, that advantage is becoming commoditized.
This shift is part of a broader transformation of white-collar work. Contrary to early assumptions, AI is impacting knowledge work more than blue-collar roles. I expect that over the next five years, nearly 300 million white-collar jobs will be impacted globally, with around 100 million at risk of becoming obsolete. Work that is highly cognitive and already digitized is particularly susceptible.
Consulting sits squarely within this zone of disruption. As the traditional consulting model faces growing pressure, the premium for future talent will no longer rest on analytical horsepower alone.
The center of gravity has shifted: Consulting is being redefined
The need for consulting services is not disappearing, but the source of value is shifting decisively. Traditionally, firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain (MBB) sat at the top of the consulting value chain through high-value strategy work. Over the years, McKinsey has invested significantly in building technology and execution capabilities, but structural challenges remain. In contrast, execution-centric firms like Deloitte, EY, and Accenture, built with a different DNA, were able to more naturally combine advisory with technology and large-scale execution.
The growth numbers speak for themselves. While the MBB firms have reported slower growth, averaging approximately 5% to 6% compound annual growth rate, implementation-led firms such as Accenture, Deloitte, and EY have grown approximately 11% to 12% in recent years (average growth estimated based on revenues from company websites, annual reports, press releases, and analyst reports), reflecting the direction of client spend.
Historically, strategy was viewed as the highest-value activity, and execution was treated as a follow-onlargely organizational and operational in nature. In the digital and AI age, execution is deeply technology-driven, and strategy and execution are no longer sequential but iterative and continuous. From being an enabler, technology has become the primary driver of both strategy and execution.
Clients increasingly want partners who can bridge strategy, technology, and operations, and execute change at scale. Consulting firms, including the Big Four, have responded by reshaping their talent and operating models around large-scale execution and organizational transformation.
The Battle of Relevance in the AI age: Where does McKinsey stand?
The key question now is: Who will emerge as winners in this new consulting landscape? As the center of gravity shifts toward execution depth and the ability to drive continuous change, success will depend on how effectively firms rewire their DNAbuilding the operating model and talent engine required to implement and scale tech-led transformation.
While strategy remains critical in the AI age, it demands a higher bar. As AI takes over analysis and recommendations, strategic advantage shifts from problem-solving to sense-makingfrom humans “in the loop” to humans “above the loop.”
My bet is that two types of firms are best positioned to win. First, there are firms like Accenture, Deloitte, and EY, which have built strong execution capabilities and successfully strengthened their technology foundations. Second, there are industry specialists with exceptional domain expertise, where deep contextual understanding becomes the primary source of differentiation.
Where does that leave McKinsey? While its brand, client relationships, global reach, and intellectual capital remain as formidable strengths, the transformation challenge it faces may be far greater than what it advises its clients on. Meeting it will require more than just new capabilities. It requires a structural reset, beginning with a mindset shiftfrom authority rooted in expertise to leadership grounded in learning and adaptability.
Whether McKinsey retains its position at the top will depend on how effectively it embraces this shift. In the AI age, even the most storied institutions must continuously reinvent themselvesor risk being outpaced by those that do.
Resilience is a much-needed skill in todays tough job market. Despite the headlines lambasting young employees as lazy and entitled, a Big Four consulting firm is taking matters into its own hands and offering training for recent grads.
PwC will give its new young hires “resilience training to toughen them up for careers as management consultants. The firm has introduced the initiative in the UK to help Gen Z brush up on their human skills, including communication with clients and handling day-to-day work dynamics, like pressure or criticism.
Quite often we are struck that the graduates that join us dont always have the resilience; they dont always have the human skills that we want to deploy onto the client work we pass them towards, Phillippa OConnor, PwCs chief people officer told The Sunday Times.
Resilience requires, among other things, the ability to withstand, adapt or recover quickly from the challenges and inevitable setbacks that come with everyday work and life. A recent study by the McKinsey Health Institute shows that those who report high levels of resilience or adaptability show better holistic health and higher engagement than their peers.
But simply telling employees to be more resilient and toughen up isnt likely to achieve much. When the path forward is unclear, research shows that teams and employees default to what they already know: regardless of whether its the best approach.
OConnor isnt alone; the notion of Gen Z (and younger millennials) lacking in the resilience department is one thats popped up across the general discourse. Growing up as digital natives, missing formative in-person experiences during COVID, and now entering hybrid or remote-first workplaces, many young professionals simply didnt get the chance to build and exercise certain human or soft skills.
And no amount of resilience training can compensate for a broken workplace. Studies show that resilience may help in low-pressure settings, but in environments with overwhelming workloads and toxicity, it becomes both ineffective and even harmful.
As companies gut layers of middle management, Gen Z hires are increasingly left reporting to stretched, exhausted managers with neither the time nor the bandwidth to offer the close, hands-on guidance they need.
As companies continue to gut middle management, new hires find themselves reporting to overworked, burnt-out managers who lack the capacity for the hands-on support they need.
Now a number of companies, like PwC, are addressing these concerns head on. Last month the accountancy giant Azets revealed it is exploring partnerships with major hotel, pub, and restaurant chains to offer temporary work assignments for trainee accountants and improve their soft skills.
In 2023, fellow Big Four consulting firm KPMG supplied classes on ‘soft skills’ for its Gen Z recruits who graduated during the pandemic, out of concern they were struggling to adapt to professional life.
Surviving a global pandemic during their formative years, thrown into a tumultuous job market, and faced with relentless criticism from those on higher rungs of the corporate ladder, Gen Z have more than demonstrated their resilience.
Now? Theyre looking for support.
