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Olli Salo

PartnerHelsinki

Leads global efforts in agile organization, applying experience in leading many large-scale agile transformations

Olli, a partner in McKinsey’s Helsinki office, is a leader within the Organization Practice. He joined the firm in 2007 and has led dozens of enterprise agility transformations in the Americas, Asia, Asia–Pacific, and Europe within the telecommunications, banking, retail, high-tech, and mining industries. These transformations cover business and technology throughout an entire organization, touching strategy, structure, processes, people, and technology elements of the operating model.

Olli has published multiple articles and white papers on enterprise agility and leads McKinsey’s global efforts to develop knowledge in this area. He has introduced more than 1,000 senior leaders to enterprise agility and made presentations on the topic at industry events and conferences around the world.

Recent examples of Olli’s work include the following:

  • setting up “tribes” of self-managing, team-based contact centers, retail channels, and centers of excellence; reshaping business structures; and implementing changes in governance, performance tracking, culture, capabilities, and career models for various telcos
  • setting up a “tribes and squads”–based model for 1,000 bank employees, aimed at increasing customer satisfaction, speeding digital transformation, boosting employee engagement, and gaining efficiency
  • implementing an agile operating model for sales and marketing, with focus on end-to-end customer-journey optimization through cross-functional and end-to-end accountable teams
  • restructuring a large European retailer around end-to-end value chains (including categories, customer journeys, and store openings) and transforming the operating model to support the new, agile setup

Published work

Model makeover: Turning a telco into a customer-centric techco,” McKinsey & Company, May 2024

Agile talent: How to revamp your people model to enable value through agility,” McKinsey & Company, October 2021

The impact of agility: How to shape your organization to compete,” McKinsey & Company, May 2021

Real-world lessons to jumpstart an agile culture shift,” blog entry, McKinsey & Company, November 2020

Agility in the time of COVID-19: Changing your operating model in an age of turbulence,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020

Doing vs being: Practical lessons on building an agile culture,” McKinsey & Company, August 2020

The five trademarks of agile organizations,” McKinsey & Company, January 2018

How to create an agile organization,” McKinsey & Company, October 2017

A tale of two agile paths: How a pair of operators set up their organizational transformations,” McKinsey & Company, February 2019

Education

Helsinki University of Technology
MSc, industrial management