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

If there is one point of consensus among the CES 2026 keynote speakers, it is that AI is reshaping technology with a speed and scale unlike any previous technological revolution.

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

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

Taneja believes we are on the verge of seeing a new wave of trillion-dollar companies. “That’s not a pie-in-the-sky idea with Anthropic, OpenAI, and a couple of others,” he said.

Calacanis pressed them on what’s driving this explosive growth. According to McKinsey’s Sternfels, while many companies are testing AI products, non-tech enterprises remain on the fence about full adoption. Sternfels says the question that McKinsey consultants often hear from CEOs is: “Do I listen to my CFO or my CIO right now?”

CFOs, seeing little return on investment, argue for delaying implementation. Meanwhile, CIOs claim it’s “crazy” not to adopt AI because “we’ll be disrupted,” Sternfels said.

Another key concern is how AI is reshaping the labor force. “Some people are looking at AI and they’re scared,” Calacanis said, noting concerns that AI could replace entry-level jobs traditionally filled by recent graduates. He asked Sternfels and Taneja for advice on what young people should do in this new landscape.

Sternfels said that while AI models can handle many tasks, sound judgment and creativity remain the essential skills humans must bring to succeed in an AI-infused world.

Meanwhile, Taneja argued that people must recognize that “skilling and re-skilling” will be a lifelong endeavor. “This idea that we spend 22 years learning and then 40 years working is broken,” he said.

Calacanis agreed that in a world where it may take less time to build an AI agent than to train a new worker, people must find ways to stay relevant. “To stand out, you’re going to have to show chutzpah, drive, passion,” he said.

Sternfels provided a glimpse into that future. While he expects McKinsey to have as many “personalized” AI agents as employees by the end of 2026, he noted that headcount will not necessarily decrease. Instead, the firm is shifting its composition; it’s increasing employees who work directly with clients by 25% while reducing back-office roles by the same percentage.