The agentic organization: Contours of the next paradigm for the AI era

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AI is bringing the largest organizational paradigm shift since the industrial and digital revolutions (see sidebar, “The evolution of operating models”). This new paradigm unites humans and AI agents—both virtual and physical—to work side by side at scale at near-zero marginal cost. We call it the agentic organization.

McKinsey’s experience working with early adopters indicates that AI agents can unlock significant value. Organizations are beginning to deploy virtual AI agents along a spectrum of increasing complexity: from simple tools that augment existing activities to end-to-end workflow automation to entire “AI-first” agentic systems. In parallel, physical AI agents are emerging. Companies are making strides in developing “bodies” for AI, such as smart devices, drones, self-driving vehicles, and early attempts at humanoid robots. These machines allow AI to interface with the physical world.

The agentic organization will be built around five pillars of the enterprise: business model; operating model; governance; workforce, people, and culture; and technology and data (Exhibit 1). Imagine, for instance, the bank of tomorrow: When a customer wants to buy a house, a personal AI concierge activates a series of agentic workflows to serve the buyer. A real estate AI agent suggests properties, while a mortgage underwriting agent tailors offers based on the customer’s financial profile. Compliance agents ensure that the deal adheres to bank policies, and a contracting agent finalizes agreements before another agent fulfills the loan. All these workflows are overseen by an agentic team of human supervisors, mortgage experts, and AI-empowered frontline employees. In some cases, the bank could even extend its AI-powered services into furnishing, renovations, energy upgrades, and more. The bank becomes a network of agentic teams—an agentic organization.

AI is leading the largest organizational paradigm shift since the Industrial and Digital Revolutions.

In this article, we share early signals from our work with pioneering companies, insights from tech leaders and investors, and the questions executives are asking us. The agentic organization paradigm will undoubtedly evolve, but today’s leaders cannot wait for perfect clarity. In this article, we point leaders to where they can act now to shape the new era—refining their operating models to create more value and rewiring for an AI-first approach—instead of waiting to be shaped by it. 

Five pillars of the agentic organization

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1. Business model

2. Operating model

3. Governance

4. Workforce, people, and culture

5. Technology and data

How to start the journey

The most frequent question we heard in our discussions with executives was, “How do I start?” Executives wonder how to create a North Star vision without clarity on what the future holds; how to assess maturity and upgrade needs for data, technical, and governance foundations; how to set priorities for value and feasibility; how to bring the organization along in terms of skills and mindset; and how to scale faster than rivals to create a competitive advantage. The clear and present danger is ending up with “more pilots than Lufthansa,” being disconnected from value drivers, seeing AI everywhere but in your profit-and-loss statements, or ending up with PR fiascos.

Building on our transformation experiences, we believe that companies that want to secure a competitive advantage in developing an agentic organization should think boldly, move fast, and go deep. In the journey to become an agentic AI leader, executives will need a different mindset to get to a coherent set of choices and actions across the 15 themes we have laid out in this article (Exhibit 3).

We encourage leaders to think through three radical shifts to make a step change in how to transform for the agentic era:

  • From linear to exponential: While technology develops exponentially, organizations and operating models typically evolve linearly, which can limit how much value an organization can ultimately capture. Don’t let this happen. Leadership teams will need to take bold stances in adapting operating models toward the agentic organization—replacing functional silos with cross-functional autonomous agentic teams, redesigning incentives and support processes to enable the change, and investing in required capabilities.
  • From technology-forward to future-back: Delegating the agentic transformation to your technology leader, as you would with a software deployment, will not suffice. Leaders need to envision the organization of the future, its full value potential with AI-first processes and a hybrid human–agent organization—and then work backward to identify the places to begin. You can only learn by doing, not by reading books or talking about it on the golf course. Bringing this to life by boldly reimagining one end-to-end domain will go a long way in building the organization’s learning muscle. And in parallel, leaders should start planning for and building the scaling enablers beyond their first lighthouse.
  • From threat to opportunity: Leaders may feel apprehension about agentic AI’s impact on day-to-day operations. It is critical for executives to continuously engage with employees about the new possibilities that this technology can unlock, not just for the organization’s growth and purpose, but also for them as professionals. Overinvesting in upskilling beyond basic literacy—as well as change management, incentives, budget, communications, and performance management to support the transition—will help pave the way.

Organize to Value

Build your operating model with value at the core

Concretely, leadership teams can start by taking these steps: making agentic AI a prominent part of the top team agenda; outlining the CEO’s vision for creating an agentic organization; ramping up an AI center of excellence; upskilling people; and rewiring one or two lighthouse domains1 to launch agentic processes quickly and “learn live.”


Organizational paradigms do coexist: 89 percent of organizations still live in the industrial age, while 9 percent have agile or product and platform operating models from the digital age, and only 1 percent act as a decentralized network. But the time has come for organizations to move as quickly as possible toward the new agentic paradigm to gain a significant competitive advantage or risk being left behind.

Many factors will influence the pace of adoption, including the development of AI models, availability of computing power, progress in robotics, changes in regulations, societal understanding and acceptance, and the human appetite for risk and change. While our insights will evolve along with AI technology in the months and years to come, we are certain that the organizations that adapt and learn faster will be the early winners in this agentic era.

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