Inside the Strategy Room

302. What every CEO can learn from private equity

May 8, 2026·53 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Private equity firms have long outperformed their peers—not just through financial engineering, but by building better businesses faster. In this episode, senior partner Sacha Ghai and partner Marla Capozzi discuss what leaders across sectors can learn from the highest-performing private equity CEOs. Drawing on their recent Harvard Business Review article, Sacha and Marla unpack the concept of CEO alpha: the value created when CEOs outperform as individual leaders, team builders, and operators. They explain why private equity’s edge has shifted from financial engineering to building stronger, more resilient businesses, and they share six practices that distinguish top-performing PE CEOs.   Related insights What Every Company Can Learn from Private Equity CEO alpha: A new approach to generating private equity outperformance CEO Excellence: The six mindsets that distinguish the best leaders from the rest A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership The Strategic CEOSupport the show: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mckinsey-strategy-&-corporate-finance/See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

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