Empowering Frontlines 2025

Contributors Acknowledgements The World Economic Forum would like to thank the members of the Frontline Talent of the Future community, without whose insights, expertise and commitments, this report would not have been possible. In addition, a warm thank you to Juliet Thomson at Menzies Aviation, Rohit Thakur at Mahindra Group and Sercan Esen at Intenseye for their valuable insights. Thank you also to the many additional experts and colleagues who provided input and helped shape this publication along the way.Production Laurence Denmark Creative Director, Studio Miko Will Liley Editor, Studio Miko Blake Elsey Designer, Studio Miko Madhur Singh Editor, World Economic ForumTyler Freeman Associate Partner; Co-Lead, Frontline Workforce of the Future Service Line, McKinsey & Company Aarushi Singhania Initiatives Lead, People Centric Pillar, Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains, World Economic Forum Avery Tallman Project Fellow, Frontline Talent of the Future Initiative, World Economic ForumWe are grateful to our colleagues at the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains, especially to: Memia Fendri, Giacomo Ruscelloni, Benjamin Schönfuß, Satchie Snellings, Federico Torti and Kyle Winters. We are also extremely grateful to colleagues at McKinsey for insights and editorial support: Sydney Alabaster, Dylan Lambert and Paul Cumbo.Lead authorsThis paper is published by the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains in collaboration with McKinsey and Company. Empowering Frontlines 15