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At McKinsey Blog

What struck me most is that Anna Wintour’s real power isn’t instinct. It’s proximity.

Leaders lose their edge the moment they stop touching real life. She never did. Early walks, street-level curiosity, conversations outside the bubble. Instinct only works when you stay close enough to feel the world changing before the metrics can capture it.

Her take on mentorship is the part companies should pay attention to. She hires for humanity, not pedigree. She treats talent as an ecosystem, not a hierarchy. That is how culture gets built, not managed.

In an era obsessed with dashboards and quarterly certainty, it’s refreshing to see a reminder that relevance is emotional first, measurable second.

The future belongs to leaders who are present enough to notice what others overlook.