Allen Webb
- Managing Director, Global Integrated Content, PwC
- Managing Director and Global Insights Leader, Strategy + Business
Seattle
Managing Director, Global Publishing, PwC. Passionate about management ideas. I don't believe in the no-win scenario (James T. Kirk)
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Articles by Allen Webb
The overlooked power of day-to-day dynamism
The power of resource reallocation Across the survey as a whole, both resource allocation (comprising all seven factors) and a second factor we created for the survey, related to customer trust, stood out as positive, statistically significant correlates with financial performance (For more on trust, see “Translating trust into business reality.”) Not surprisingly, headwinds in the survey, such as global threats, decarbonization pressures, and tax risks, were negatively correlated with profit...
Climate Change in the Classroom
With every sunrise and rotation of the earth, humans are more interconnected through reading and writing. We are using more tools for communicating than ever before, creating increasing opportunities for people across the globe to share, organize, and solve all kinds of problems, from attacks on democracy to a warming planet. These changes have moved the role of the English teacher to center stage.
What’s right with the US economy
As companies attempt to cope with an economic downturn and the United States fights a war on terrorism, many wonder whether the long-term health of the US economy will be undermined. The answer depends on what happens to the productivity growth rate—the main determinant of how fast the economy can grow. At issue is whether the near doubling of US productivity growth rates during the late 1990s, from 1.4 percent (1972–95) to 2.5 percent (1995–2000), can continue.
Innovation lessons from Pixar: An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird
If there’s one thing successful innovators have shown over the years, it’s that great ideas come from unexpected places. Who could have predicted that bicycle mechanics would develop the airplane or that the US Department of Defense would give rise to a freewheeling communications platform like the Internet? Senior executives looking for ideas about how to make their companies more innovative can also seek inspiration in surprising sources.
Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents: Reading, Writing, and Making a Difference
Non-Member Price: $34.95 NCTE Member Price: $27.95 Author(s): Richard Beach, Jeff Share, Allen Webb Level(s): Middle, Secondary ISBN/ISSN: 9781138245259 Stock No.: 45259 Description Listen to Larry Jacobs of Education Talk Radio interview the authors about the book. Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents is THE essential resource for middle and high school English language arts teachers to help their students understand and address the urgent issues and challenges facing life on Earth today.
Humility, courage, and decision-making
Last Monday in Chicago, before taking my kids to the always awesome Museum of Science and Industry, I snapped a photo of my old Hyde Park apartment, the one where I lived when I was in graduate school at the University of Chicago more than a few years ago. The building looks the same, even if I'm sporting a few more creases these days! Some of my worry lines are formed on the job at the McKinsey Quarterly.
McKinsey Quarterly 2016 Number 2: Overview and full issue
This issue of the Quarterly, available here as a PDF download, examines the economic dynamics of digital disruption, Pixar’s approach to continuous innovation, the future of performance management, and China’s e-commerce landscape. Digital disruption is hitting every industry at varying speeds and intensity. Executives know this, and they also recognize that time is of the essence for incumbents seeking to transform digital from a threat into an opportunity.
McKinsey Quarterly 2016 Number 2: Overview and full issue
This issue of the Quarterly, available here as a PDF download, examines the economic dynamics of digital disruption, Pixar’s approach to continuous innovation, the future of performance management, and China’s e-commerce landscape. Download the full issue of McKinsey Quarterly 2016 Number 2 (PDF–4.2MB). Digital disruption is hitting every industry at varying speeds and intensity.
The best coach I ever had
The photo at the top of this column is of my high school cross country coach, Rick Guido. It was taken in 1986 at a season-end banquet, just a few weeks after a moment that, in retrospect, has had an out-sized influence on the rest of my life. As I was cooling down at the end of a muddy, late-October practice, Coach Guido jogged next to me and said, “Allen, you’ve been running sixth for a while; but I’ve been watching you and I think you’re the fifth fastest guy on this team.
McKinsey Quarterly 2015 Number 4: Overview and full issue
This issue of the Quarterly, available here as a PDF download, explores the paradox of combining speed and stability to achieve agility. Download the full issue of McKinsey Quarterly 2015 Number 4 (PDF–3.25MB). It’s almost a truism these days to say that modern corporations must be agile. The pace of industry disruption arising from the digital revolution, combined with nimble, new competitors—including many from emerging markets—have raised the cost of complacency and rigidity.
McKinsey Quarterly 2015 Number 1: Overview and full issue
This issue of the Quarterly, available here as a PDF download, describes the dawn of marketing’s next golden age, new ways to create value in the sales channel, the power of people analytics, and more. Download the full issue of McKinsey Quarterly 2015 Number 1 (PDF–7.1MB).
My transition story
The head of Juniper Networks discusses his strategy for making the transition into the CEO role. When Kevin Johnson took the reins at Juniper Networks, in September 2008, he left a role that was, by some measures, much bigger: in his previous position, as president of Microsoft’s platform and services division, he had been responsible for more than $20 billion in revenue, including the company’s lucrative Windows business.
Weighing the US government’s response to the crisis: A dialogue
In this second installment of a three-part series, Professor Richard Rumelt and McKinsey's Lowell Bryan discuss the prospects for the economy, companies, and workers. This conversation is one of three installments summarizing Lowell Bryan and Richard Rumelt’s reflections on the implications of the financial crisis.
Management lessons from the financial crisis: A conversation with Lowell Bryan and Richard Rumelt
Two business strategists discuss the nature of risk, the effectiveness of performance-measurement systems, and the difficulty of getting governance and incentives right. This conversation is one of three installments summarizing Lowell Bryan and Richard Rumelt’s reflections on the implications of the financial crisis. This first installment focuses on the broad managerial implications of the crisis. The second examines the public-policy response to the downturn.
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. This conversation is one of three installments summarizing Lowell Bryan and Richard Rumelt’s reflections on the implications of the financial crisis. This third part explores what it means for corporate strategy today.
Innovation lessons from Pixar: An interview with Oscar-winning director Brad Bird
What does stimulating the creativity of animators have in common with developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs? A lot. If there’s one thing successful innovators have shown over the years, it’s that great ideas come from unexpected places. Who could have predicted that bicycle mechanics would develop the airplane or that the US Department of Defense would give rise to a freewheeling communications platform like the Internet?
Getting IT spending right this time
Smart IT investing doesn’t require a return to the spendthrift ways of the late 1990s. Who can blame business technology executives if half a decade of overspending on IT now makes them somewhat obsessed by costs? Indeed, companies in much of the world are capping their IT expenditures. Some companies even peg the performance bonuses of chief information officers to how much money they cut from technology budgets. Yet companies underinvest in technology at their peril—even in lean times.
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