# How McKinsey Is Rewiring L&D for the AI Age: Heather Stefanski

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/workplace-stories-by-redthread-research-3600959/how-mckinsey-is-rewiring-l-d-for-the-ai-age-heather-stefanski.md
Podcast: [Workplace Stories by RedThread Research](https://stenobird.com/podcast/workplace-stories-by-redthread-research-3600959)
Published: 2026-05-27T12:00:03+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/how-mckinsey-is-rewiring-l-d-for-the-ai-age-heather-stefanski--72055135
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72055135/ws_128.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3465

## Resource

This week on the podcast, we welcome Heather Stefanski, Chief Learning and Development Officer at McKinsey & Company. We explore how organizations like McKinsey are reimagining employee development for the age of AI, shifting learning into the flow of work, focusing on systems and purposeful apprenticeships, and embedding L&D directly into workflow design. You'll also hear all about the evolving skill sets for L&D teams and the importance of updating how we measure development. You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... 00:00 Integrating development into AI assistants 04:49 Heather's role at McKinsey 08:32 Developing skills in the workplace 16:08 Designing developmental workflows with AI 24:56 Understanding skill proficiency levels 26:25 Building agentic development solutions 30:53 Assessing AI proficiency levels 33:18 Future skills focus at McKinsey 42:55 AI in performance evaluations 53:13 Using AI for feedback and review Rethinking Language: Why Development Surpasses Training One of the first shifts Heather Stefanski identifies is a deliberate move away from talking about “training” or even just “learning.” Instead, McKinsey centers its L&D strategy on development, a more holistic approach that encompasses formal programs, feedback mechanisms, leadership modeling, and real-time experiences in the flow of work. For McKinsey, development is inseparable from business outcomes, and employee development is critical to the firm’s value proposition. This means McKinsey designs work intentionally to be developmental, combining upskilling, leadership building, and project experiences into a seamless ecosystem. Purposeful Apprenticeship Heather discusses embedding rituals, such as performance check-ins and feedback sessions, directly into c…

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