02 M C K I N S EY Q UA RT E R LY - - - create value today. Authors Henning Soller and Sven Smit have written a comprehensive guide for leaders on what they need to know about quantum computing. In “Quantum’s bold promise: What business leaders need to know,” they suggest that quantum represents a multibillion-dollar opportunity by 2035. As IBM CEO Arvind Krishna tells Kutcher in their discussion, “Quantum today is where AI was in 2015 or 2016.” So business leaders face a tough decision: advance cautiously or aggressively. The authors believe that most companies can adopt a two-phase approach— starting now and scaling later—to build a competitive edge. ‘Don’t dismiss courage as a timeless “nice to have.” It’s now the must-have quality that defines leadership.’ Boards, too, play a role in the face of technological change. It’s a unique challenge given that many boards have limited knowledge or experience about AI. That’s a problem: A 2025 study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology asserted that organizations with digitally and AI-savvy boards outperform their peers by 10.9 percentage points in return on equity. Authors Aamer Baig, Ashka Dave, Celia Huber, and Hrishika Vuppala inter- viewed directors from 75 corporate boards to see what boards need to do besides become more tech-savvy. They identified two key priorities: aligning with management to define the company’s posture toward AI and tailoring the governance model to match that posture. “The AI reckoning: How boards can evolve” offers a road map for addressing those priorities and six governance actions that every board should consider. AI, geopolitics, and an anxious workforce make it hard to define what really matters now and what reality will look like in the next decade. Max De Pree, the former CEO of Herman Miller and author of a series of books on leadership, once said, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” Having the courage to tackle that responsibility is what will make all the difference in the decade ahead. It’s time to turn courage into a corporate capability. We hope this issue will be a valuable step on your own journey. For 60 years, McKinsey Quarterly has aimed to help busi ness leaders successfully guide their companies through their most difficult challenges. Besides enjoying the Quarterly in print, you can get McKinsey Quarterly in a digital edition (that has all the elegance of the print magazine) via a free member ship that includes bonus stories we couldn’t accommodate in the print edition. It’s easy to sign up at McK.co/MQMembership, where you can learn about the other benefits of membership, including exclusive access to free downloads of McKinsey’s 100 most important reports. And we hope you’ll continue your learn ing on McKinsey.com, where you can go deeper on any subject we cover in the print Quarterly . Rick Tetzeli EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, MCKINSEY QUARTERLY