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

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

In a live Tuesday recording 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 will transform 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, rose from a $60 billion valuation last year to “a few hundred billion dollars” this year.

Taneja believes we are about to see a new wave of trillion-dollar companies. “This is not an impossible idea with Anthropic, OpenAI, and a couple of others,” he said.

Calacanis pressed them to find out what was behind this tremendous growth. According to McKinsey’s Sternfels, while many companies are testing AI products, non-technology 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 IT director now?”

CFOs, seeing little return on investment, are demanding a delay in implementation. Meanwhile, IT managers claim it is “crazy” not to adopt AI because “we will be disrupted,” Sternfels said.

Another major concern is how AI will reshape the workforce. “Some people look at AI and are afraid,” Calacanis said, citing concerns that AI could replace entry-level jobs traditionally held by recent graduates. He asked Sternfels and Taneja for advice on what young people should do in this new landscape.

Although AI models can handle many tasks, sound judgment and creativity remain essential skills humans must have to succeed in an AI-filled world, Sternfels said.

At the same time, Taneja says people should realize that “acquiring and re-skilling” will be a lifelong endeavor. “The idea of ​​spending 22 years learning and then 40 years working was shattered,” he said.

Calacanis agreed that in a world where building an AI agent may take less time than training a new one, people must find ways to stay relevant. “To stand out, you have to show boldness, leadership and passion,” he said.

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