Despite running a hectic schedule that involves travelling 300 days a year, McKinsey CEOtries to meet two CEOs a day in whichever country he happens to be in. And these meetings give Barton a unique insight into what’s going on in the boardrooms of globocorps. So, when Barton says that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is creating a positive buzz about India among global CEOs, it has to be taken seriously. In a chat with ET’s, the chief executive of the world’s top consulting firm talks about the Modi effect, the sweet spot India is in and the changing roles of strategists. Edited excerpts:Yes, I definitely think so. I travel about 300 nights in a year and I see two CEOs every day. There is optimism on India. People had given up on India, saying it was too complicated, could not get anything done. It had dropped from people’s priority (list) in last five years. I think it has gone right back up; (now) people are interested. Obviously, people are going to want to see action, but I think the feeling is they will see action because this government seems serious. I met the minister of finance two nights ago. They (the government) know what needs to be done and they do not need a super-brain saying (what) we need to do. They know, and I think they want to get it done.I think the people around the world look at this and we need it. It is also a bit of desperation for the world — 40% of the world’s growth just last year came from China. We need more balance and India is the place that could do it. So, if India unleashes (itself), it is going to help not only India but the world. So, I think there is a lot of optimism, people are putting India back on the top of priority list to say, ‘okay, let us pay attention and see what happens’. But that it is not going to happen overnight. There are things that have to change.Yes, I do. I mean, I was there actually when he (Modi) spoke at Madison Square Gardens. I did not go there but I was in Manhattan when he did, saw the newspapers. I hear people say he seems very determined, that is the kind of sense that people get — that this guy is determined. We know it is unbelievably complicated, but he is going to get it done. I see it in pharmaceuticals, industrial companies and pension funds. The pension funds are interested and that is a big opportunity and so we are interested in getting more investment here, too, because of infrastructure players, all those things that can be done. So there is a lot of interest because people are searching for growth.Yes, especially now. I was not two years ago because it was complicated; it was very difficult and companies and clients were deeply frustrated with the bureaucracy; no decisions were getting made. Companies were like ‘we do not have time for that, let us go to Africa, let us go to Nigeria, let us go to Indonesia, let us just go to the US’, but that has changed. I think because if you look at the trends that are going on in the world, India is right at the centre; like ag-food is going to be one of the biggest businesses in the world right here, healthcare boom, education boom, advanced analytics.McKinsey continues to bet big on India. McKinsey has three-and-a-half thousand people in India; this is the biggest proportion of McKinsey people in the world. What I am particularly excited about is what we call MCKC, which was invented by our office here, which is a lot of advanced analytics. So, a lot of global companies are getting some absolutely critical capabilities, risk management, market assessments done here in Delhi, Gurgaon and in Chennai. The talent pool here is phenomenal and we are going to make this more of a centre for advanced analytics.Yes, people ask me where the headquarters of McKinsey is. First of all, there is no one headquarter because we are partnership, but if you look at the concentration where our people are, again I would have to say it is India, because that is where the core is and then New York and then probably London and then Frankfurt. So, I think that this is a talent pool and leadership, even MLI. That is how we want to leverage that in other parts of the world. What these guys are doing in our MCKC, they have developed a capability, say, for example, a pen, so, you can break down the cost of this pen.Normally, that would take two weeks, you got to figure out how they can do it in 60 seconds and there are some coders and some experts who have done procurement, who have developed this capability and as a software. So, I am excited by that and that is why I am going to be spending more time here because of what I am learning, to take to other places what is going on here.You are right, it is sort of that signal versus noise. I am actually bullish and I will tell you why. If I look at some of the big engines in the world, the US continues to power ahead almost in spite of the government. You have got just underlying stronger and stronger economies; it has got the demographics. Actually it is a high growth market, and the fastest growing office in McKinsey right now is in the United States. The US continues to power ahead, you have got energy cost, which is decreasing, which allows more manufacturing, and you have got a very large market and immigration, you got a young demographic. You have got Mexico, which is booming and coming along; you have got China, everyone whacks China, but they are going to keep powering ahead, I am very confident about that. They are only 53% urbanised, they have got the wherewithal to deal with the challenges.So, you got the US, you got China, you have Indonesia, which is picking up. Russia is one that is going to have difficulty, but Russia is not significant — it does not change global economies. China accounted for 40% of the world’s GDP growth this year. So (in) Africa, I am very bullish on Nigeria, Ethiopia; these are places that are moving. Brazil cannot get any worse, so I hope it will improve, but I am more worried about the government there, so if you look at the kind of drivers, we feel good, and the worry I have, the only thing I worry most about is geo-politics, which you cannot forecast. So, (you have) Ukraine and Russia, China and Japan, in general, relations in Asia-Pacific are not that strong. So it is more geo-political catastrophe type stuff that you worry about, which you certainly cannot ignore because they are happening. We are bullish and we see it with our clients, they are investing more, that is why we are busy.Iwould say a couple of things about it. One is I think the idea that you have a five-year strategy is old, it does not work anymore. I think you need to have a telescope in one eye and a microscope in the other, you have to have both a long view and a short view and you have to keep updating both and that is tough because most businesses were built for a five-year window of how you drive it. So, you need to have a long-term view, because there are big trends that are out there and you need to make sure you are on them or you know how they come together to affect businesses or identify new opportunities, so you need to have that and we have done that but that is, let us say, quite important because that accounts for a lot of performance. It is like you are on the right trends. Then in the shortterm you need to be agile, because the world does change quickly and you need to reallocate resources.So, I think that having a telescope, microscope versus a five-year view is one dimension of change. The other one is I do not think strategy is that hard or that is where the premium is, that is not anywhere near the bulk of our work. What is more important is how you implement your strategy and the hardest thing there is reallocating resources to back your strategy.Technology is one of the biggest trends and most CEOs would say it moves five times faster than management. It is hard to keep up because it is changing so quickly. We have found that high growth companies — it is a very basic thing — the people leading those companies are very aware of what is going on and very connected and open. They spend a lot of time outside their business exploring what people are doing. Les Wexner from Victoria’s Secret gets his management team every year to travel for about a week. He does not care where they go, but he tells them come back and tell me what you have learnt. I will give you an example. If you are a heart surgeon in the US today, you better be worried about driverless cars. People would ask why. Well because most of the heart transplants come from car accidents and car accidents are going to drop dramatically with driverless cars.So in a strange way, you even know that has nothing to do with being a heart surgeon, you have to think about that. So I think just being aware of what is going on in industries outside your own areas is going to be very important and I think a lot of leaders are spending time trying to learn. I think the other part is not being overconfident. It is amazing how people, when they are in their prime of what they are doing, think they are god-like or something. The one company where I do not find that is Samsung. A year before they hit their peak earnings from cellphones, you had the chairman saying ‘it is over’. Publicly he said ‘we are done, we are toast’, and I am not believing this, I said this guy is crazy. What he was trying to do is get the paranoia up in the organisation. He says things like ‘be prepared to change everything except your spouse and your children next year’. That is leadership — to not be overconfident, if you know what I mean, like some companies are.