McKinsey Classics: the helix organization and how to reorganize the company in the AI era

By McKinsey Classics (Alex Panas and Becca Coggins) · Sat, Oct 24, 2026.

The October 2026 McKinsey Classics newsletter revisits timeless ideas and explains why they still matter. It is presented by Alex Panas, global leader of industries, and Becca Coggins, global leader of functional practices and growth platforms.

The classic piece is "The helix organization," a 2019 article. It starts from a critique of traditional matrix organizations. According to the text, these rely on a tangle of solid-line and dotted-line reporting relationships. That tangle often blurs roles, slows decision-making and forces employees to answer to competing "bosses."

As an alternative, the authors propose the "helix." The name is inspired by the double-stranded shape of DNA. The structure splits the company's traditional hierarchy into two parallel, equally important lines of accountability. One line covers how the work gets done and the other covers what work gets done.

In the first line, a capability leader oversees the employee's professional development, performance reviews and career path. In the second, a value-creation leader sets priorities, oversees day-to-day work and ensures employees meet business objectives.

According to the newsletter, if applied well, the helix can reduce tension, increase speed and flexibility, and allocate resources more dynamically.

To put it into practice, the text recommends several steps for leaders. They should create an internal talent marketplace to deploy people where their skills are most needed. They should also make resource planning more transparent and effective, clarify accountability and balance performance management between value-creation leaders and capability leaders.

The email closes this section with the idea that today's business environment is complex, but organizations don't have to be. It points to the full article to see how to balance flexibility and stability.

The newsletter also links to more recent thinking, titled "AI is changing work. Now it has to change the organization." It is written by Alexis Krivkovich, Brooke Weddle, Holly Price and Vik Sohoni of McKinsey.

The text states that companies continue to scale AI rapidly across the organization, but many still do not see meaningful results. Those that do succeed don't just adopt AI. They rethink how people, AI agents and work are organized.

According to McKinsey, four interrelated shifts can help leaders rethink traditional operating models and capture more value from AI. The email does not detail what those four shifts are, so they cannot be summarized here.

Overall, the connection between the two pieces is that flexible organizational structures, such as the helix, are now also being considered for teams that combine people and AI agents. This reading is a contextual interpretation and not a literal statement from the email.