Insights

Our thinking on what really drives organizations that deliver

Includes earlier work our partners published at McKinsey & Company.

New from OE Partners

Forbes · October 2026

Private Equity’s $3.8 Trillion Problem: Why Operational Value Keeps Slipping Away Before Exit

Operational improvement now carries most of the return burden in private equity, and longer holds raise the stakes. Many transformations are designed to be sustained through oversight rather than embedded in how the business runs, so their gains fade when attention shifts, often in the year before exit. Embedment redesigns decision rights, budgets, incentives, and routines so the value is still there when the buyer looks.

Caitlin Hewes, Forbes Human Resources Council

Read on Forbes →

Why transformations fade

Most transformations do not fail. They fade, because the mechanics that run the organization were never redesigned.

Sustainment vs. embedment

Most Transformations Fail Because The Way They’re Run Hasn’t Changed →Forbes

Forbes · Jul 2026The 70% failure rate holds because programs sustain change through effort instead of redesigning the leadership, rules, purpose, and community that run the organization.

From Sustainment to Embedment: Rethinking the Endgame of Transformation ↓OE Partners

OE Partners · White paper (PDF)Why transformation results erode after launch and how embedment holds them in place, including a private equity perspective on what durability means for IRR.

Organizational effectiveness for sustained performance and health →McKinsey

Organization Blog · Feb 2021Moving away from episodic, cure-all transformations to escape the reorganization treadmill.

Protecting value through exit

Private Equity’s $3.8 Trillion Problem: Why Operational Value Keeps Slipping Away Before Exit →Forbes

Forbes · Oct 2026With holds near seven years and a far higher EBITDA bar, gains that rely on oversight are most exposed in the year before exit, when buyers look hardest.

Making change happen

America 2021: Making change happen, against the odds →McKinsey

McKinsey · Feb 2021A memo to incoming government leaders: knowing how to make change happen matters as much as knowing what to change.

Designing the operating model

Restructuring moves boxes. Rewiring changes how the business runs.

Operating model fundamentals

Operating model transformations: Not all elements are created equal →McKinsey

Organization Blog · Sep 2021Research finds three elements have an outsized impact on organizational efficacy: governance, culture, and workforce planning.

Rethinking the boundaries of your organizational ecosystem →McKinsey

Organization Blog · Dec 2019As the line between employees and outside participants blurs, leaders should build ecosystem design into operating model design and set more flexible organizational perimeters.

Corporate functions and shared services

Redefining corporate functions to better support strategy and growth →McKinsey

McKinsey · Jan 2022Striking the right balance between decentralized functions and centralized control starts with the needs of the business units.

Capturing the value of ‘one firm’ →McKinsey

McKinsey Quarterly · May 2023Research across 2,000 companies shows it pays to operate as one firm, and how top performers avoid both top-down rigidity and siloed autonomy.

Mergers and integration

Realizing the value of your merger with the right operating model →McKinsey

McKinsey · Oct 2019A merger is a rare moment to redesign structures, processes, and people together, and it is work top teams should not delegate.

Decisions, empowerment, and leadership

Speed comes from decision rights that are clear and leaders who let people use them.

Decision making

For smarter decisions, empower your employees →McKinsey

McKinsey · Sep 2020Delegated decisions work when managers coach rather than control or step away, freeing time that costs a typical Fortune 500 company about $250 million a year.

If we’re all so busy, why isn’t anything getting done? →McKinsey

McKinsey Quarterly · Jan 2022Companies have mastered the art of unnecessary interactions; winning takes a much sharper focus on true collaboration.

Empowering leadership

What it really means to lead more effectively through empowerment →McKinsey

Organization Blog · Feb 2020Genuine empowerment is high touch: leaders stay closely involved as coaches and mentors, in a different way than command and control.

Busting a management myth: empowering employees doesn’t mean leaving them alone →McKinsey

Organization Blog · Feb 2020Empowering employees often requires more involvement from managers, not less.

Workforce and capability in the age of AI

Transformations succeed when people at every level can do the new work.

Talent pipelines and AI

If You Replace Junior Talent With AI Today, Who Will Lead Your Company Tomorrow? →Forbes

Forbes · Jul 2026Cutting entry-level roles for AI empties the future leadership bench; apprenticeship, budgeted teaching time, and room for errors rebuild it.

Also published in Forbes Japan, Aug 2026 →