McKinsey and General Catalyst execs say the era of ‘learn once, work forever’ is over

If there’s one point of consensus among CES 2026 keynote speakers, it’s that AI is transforming technology at a speed and scale unlike any previous technology revolution.

In a live recording of Tuesday’s All-In podcast, co-host Jason Calacanis interviewed Bob Sternfels, Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, and Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst. The discussion focused on how AI is changing investment and workforce strategies.

“The world has completely changed,” Taneja said of the unprecedented growth of AI companies. He noted that while Stripe took about 12 years to reach a $100 billion valuation, Anthropic, another General Catalyst portfolio company, has grown from a $60 billion valuation last year to “a couple of hundred billion dollars” this year.

Taneja believes that we will see a new wave of trillion dollar companies. “It’s not a pie-in-the-sky idea with Anthropic, OpenAI, and a few others,” he said.

Calacanis pressed him on what had caused this explosive growth. According to McKinsey’s Sternfels, while many companies are experimenting with AI products, non-tech companies remain on the fence about full adoption. Sternfels says the question McKinsey consultants often hear from CEOs is: “Am I listening to my CFO or my CIO now?”

CFOs, seeing little return on investment, argue to delay implementation. Meanwhile, CIOs claim it is “crazy” not to use AI because “we will be disrupted,” said Sternfels.

Another major concern is how AI will reshape the workforce. “Some people look at AI and they’re scared,” Calacanis said, noting concerns that AI could replace entry-level jobs typically filled by recent graduates. He asked Sternfels and Taneja for advice on what young people should do in this new landscape.

Sternfels says that while AI models can handle many tasks, good judgment and creativity remain important skills humans need to succeed in an AI-filled world.

Meanwhile, Taneja said that people should recognize that “skilling and re-skilling” will be a lifelong effort. “This idea that we studied for 22 years and then worked for 40 years is broken,” he said.

Calacanis agreed that in a world where it takes less time to build an AI agent than to train a new employee, people need to find ways to stay relevant. “To stand out, you will have to show chutzpah, drive, passion,” he said.

Sternfels provides a glimpse into that future. While he expects McKinsey to have “personal” AI agents as employees by the end of 2026, he notes that the number of employees should not decrease. However, the company changed its composition; it increases employees who work directly with clients by 25% while reducing the back-office role by the same percentage.