McKinsey and General Catalyst executives say the days of ‘learn once and work forever’ are over

If there’s one thing the keynote speakers at CES 2026 have in common, it’s that AI is reshaping technology at a speed and scale unlike any previous technological revolution.

On Tuesday’s live recording of the All-In podcast, co-host Jason Calakanis interviewed Bob Sternfels, global managing partner at McKinsey & Company, and Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst. Their discussion focused on how AI will transform investment strategies and the workforce.

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

Taneja believes that a new wave of trillion-dollar companies is on the horizon. “This is not an idea that’s on par with Anthropic, OpenAI, and some of the other companies,” he said.

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

CFOs advocate delaying implementation, seeing little return on investment. Meanwhile, Sternfels said CIOs are claiming they’re “crazy” for not implementing AI because it’s “disruptive.”

Another key concern is how AI is reshaping the workforce. “Some people are looking at AI and fearing it,” Karacanis 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 environment.

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

Meanwhile, Taneja argued that people need to realize that “skilling and reskilling” is a lifelong endeavor. “The idea that you spend 22 years learning and then working 40 years is broken,” he says.

Calacanis agreed that in a world where building an AI agent may take less time than training a new worker, people must find a way to maintain the status quo. “To stand out, you need to show elation, drive and passion,” he said.

Mr. Sternfels offered a glimpse of that future. He expects McKinsey to have as many “personalized” AI agents as employees by the end of 2026, but noted that headcount will not necessarily decline. Instead, the company is changing its mix. We are increasing the number of employees working directly with clients by 25%, while reducing back-office roles by the same percentage.