Pulling back the veil of secrecy surrounding McKinsey
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- In their new book, "When McKinsey Comes to Town," New York Times investigative reporters Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe dig inside McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm that has worked with corporate and government clients around the world (from entertainment firms to tobacco companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers). They talk with correspondent Erin Moriarty about what makes McKinsey, they say, a major force for spreading ideas globally, both good and bad.
#mckinsey #consulting
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An eight minute segment will not put a dent in their armor, but makes for a useful introduction to a fascinating hidden world. The average viewer hasn't even a clue.
Sell them all other countries stock market. Reset the equity stock market is much better
Buy silver than crypto
I've seen McKinsey from the inside, they are essentially an organization that builds influence and power - not so much expertise.
An eight minute segment doesn’t mean much, but maybe if you read the book that the segment promotes, you’ll leave something.
Every corporation in America plays both sides of the fence (Starbucks promotes indigenous bean growth yet puts down unionization); why expect a consulting firm to be any less mercenary for a buck?
I liked the part about McKinsey's rigorous client selection process. Uh huh. It's the client who will pay them the most.
Well said. No different from bankers who are willing to finance both/all sides of a conflict. They’re intrinsically immune to consequences as they are merely intermediaries.
Even the government
If my career was a tree I have had many varied branches and from a biochem background to PR to working for an international consulting firm. I would say the latter was the most difficult to feel good about myself at the end of the day.
The recent hurricane that decimated our southeast coast has reminded me of an insurance company that my firm consulted. In the same time period after a major hurricane years ago, when they were chipping away at any payment to people who have lost their homes.. my firm chartered a 747 to fly all of the bigwigs and their families to Europe for appreciation of the income brought in by these homeowners payments.
While the homeowners were struggling and living in FEMA trailers these guys were partying it up in Europe. I walked soon after that.
I've worked for a consulting company. They have ZERO loyalty to their employees. I'll NEVER go back to working for a Consulting company!
OMG, that's awful! I guess the execs also brought a bunch of opioids with them to party it up in Europe at the expense of the hurricane survivors. 🤮
@@stevechance150 the work itself was never dull, but people are just numbers. Employees or not it's as if control was all that mattered. I've never looked back.
Sell them all other countries stock market. Reset the equity stock market is much better
Buy silver than crypto
Back in the 90s, the big corporation I worked at was McKinsey'd. It is a simple process really. They make the executives/managers ruthless, if they aren't already. Any individual that doesn't go along is out. This rule goes all the way to the top.
Hey, they're just making businesses more efficient and profitable. Are you a cOmMuNiSt? /s
Jeff Skilling and Mike Pearson is all I Need to know. I won’t invest in a company with anyone that worked there in the past.
McKinsey's business model is to assign a dozen $5000/day consultants to spend months writing an elaborate report recommending what the guy who hired them was going to do in the first place, so there will be shared blame when it all blows up.
If you pay a 600 million dollar settlement ? Your guilty.
Not always
When I tried to visualize the type of 'dudes' who worked at McKinsey, the two guys that use to work there immediately hit the nail on the head. 😁😁
The shocking revelation that consulting firms will do anything to make money. I am flabbergasted
Hahaha exactly
Sarcasm must be your superpower ❤️☮️🙏
Don't be so surprised
Lol
no, this is not true for all circumstances. I was with McKinsey for 4.5 years but didn't make partner. when I was an EM (engagement/project manager), the CEO fired me and my team because I told him his company didn't have the capabilities to be successful in venture capital. when I was an Associate Principal (just below partner), we stopped a project because we knew the client wouldn't implement our recommendations. in both situations, we walked away from money. true stories
Around 2017, Ghana's Ministry of Finance employed McKinsey's services to consult for a 6-figure payment. That created an uproar in the country after the minority caucus of the country's parliamentary select committee on finance exposed the government's dealings with the said company, the firm left afterwards.
consulting firms destroyed Africa, no doubt about it. the horrors of the big 4 & big 3 across the continent is shocking
There was a great episode of Fresh Air this week about McKinsey
I still remember BCG told me at a school recruiting event that they only do strategy, not execution, and if their stake holder wants certain conclusion, they’ll do it. And when I went on to the corporate world, i uncovered a McKinsey study that my then employer hired them to do years ago which was useless because it’s just beautiful charts and numbers but unimplementable
Welcome to McKinsey. Check your principles at the door.
These fools were hired by ‘a large electric utility in Virginia’ they brought in a horde of twenty somethings who divided us into groups and encouraged us to talk about our work processes. My group was mostly engineers. We quickly realised that they had a pre-formed model of what the engineering department at an electric utility should look like and they only pretended to listen. They met with half of us in the morning and the other half in the afternoons. My friend would tell them a ‘fairy tale’ in the morning and I would hear it in a slightly modified form in the afternoon passed off as an ‘insight developed by the consultant’ It became comical how little these people actually knew about engineering. The end result was a re-organization and personal cuts which we suffered through for the next several years. The end result was a significant increase in the risk to the health and safety of the public.
And then all the losers who go and do MBAs to give their flailing careers a boost try to emulate all these silly games and end up looking like complete fools. My ex-boss was like that. We're talking about a small-sized (50+ employees) English as a Second Language college. We basically loathed each other and I think at one point he even tried to do some kind of 'performance analysis' routine possibly as a means to lay the groundwork to get rid of me (and maybe others). He was just a silly silly man who didn't know the limits of his own intelligence and charisma (lacking in both areas).
One of the reason my country’s power utility is struggling is because of these guys. Now it’s a shadow of its former self.
The only good thing is at least they have been charged in court together with their stooges. All their shenanigans will be laid out in open court.
Sounds like consulting (and auditing) in a nutshell! Seriously, what’s someone fresh out of school going to know about an industry after being on the job for a few days/weeks. These are your consultants, not the partners who actually know things.
They are at the large electric utility I work at right now.
I once worked for a management consulting firm that was hired by a company to fix the mess that the McKinsey ‘experts’ had created in their operations. McKinsey guys may be intelligent, but they weren’t practical.
100 percent. Me too.
Often you need to hire another company like Deloitte Accenture etc... Or one that focuses in a specific industry or function say HR, operations ( lots of sub ops depending on industry) etc to implement the vision. Often there is conflict. Industries have been pulling back on lots of strategy since the heyday
The way you put it sounds like your management consulting firm is much better. I am curious if you guys could do some self reflection and write about cases where your firm messed up and the clients had to hire others to fix the mess. And why would you think these McKinsey guys are intelligent, yet impractical? Is it not impractical advice is also ineffective and not intelligent?
Are you a consultant or neurosurgeon now?
Intelligent, but not practical. The executives they position into companies they consult for are the same… smart people, but impractical.
Impractical leads to ineffectiveness, as consultants or advisors, how could that be intelligent or smart?
Many in corporate America are quite familiar with this, and some even refer to "The McKinsey Model", which is generating influence through placement. It's impossible to miss that so many corporate & political leaders come by way of McKinsey.
Once we got three former McKinsey partners on our board, the company went down hill. They brought in their consultants, they made changes to the board that anyone over 75 was out - and those tended to be the most knowledgeable with the most power, then they brought people in their network on the board and controlled the company. McKensey also has a special relationship with Price Waterhouse, so they brought in retired Pwc partners to the board, and hired PwC as auditors. McKinsey's essential expertise is power and influences. It's partners join all the country clubs and get to know company executives and work their way in. When they do consulting, they are the example of a consultant "who borrows your watch to tell you what time it is". They ask everyone in management for ideas and the cull the best ones and present them. They get management to make everyone fearful of not cooperating.
In a way they are also like IBM in the old days. People would always hire IBM, because "no one ever got fired for hiring IBM". The real problem is management is not doing their job. If they need McKinsey to tell management what do to, then management should be fired.
@@ppumpkin3282 " If they need McKinsey to tell management what do to, then management should be fired." Standing ovation here. 👍👍👍👍👍
Im not a McKinsey employee, but I’d like to advise everyone to have a great day!
Years ago, probably in the 80s, my dad, a WWII vet, quietly stated how he disliked the idea of globalization. I didn’t understand. He became an adult under Roosevelt & Eisenhower. Several years ago, I finally understood his concern. McKinsey seems to embody that concern.
Definitely 👍
Buy silver than crypto
Sell them all other countries stock market. Reset the equity stock market is much better
Some of the worst individuals I know worked at McKinsey!
McKinsey: dreading the book's release
Boston Consulting: bitter nobody is writing a hit piece on them
Right! No such thing as bad publicity.
I've been on the receiving end of management initiated mckinsey engagements. The consultants were arrogant, elitist, over confident, lacked real world experience, and showed little interest in understanding our situation well enough to be capable of providing advise. We learned that often, mckinsey is brought in so the firm can say "we worked with mckinsey."
If that were true , they wouldn't be were there at!
Why should McKinsey be expected to disclose their client list or their fees? They're a private company.
Enough is never enough for these kind of people. Greed never disappoints.
Hey, they're just making businesses more efficient and profitable. Are you a cOmMuNiSt? /s
This country desperately needs more truth seekers like Rep. Katie Porter.
Absolute fox
We need voters who don’t continue making excuses to reward corrupt dishonest opportunistic sociopaths bc they think they are part of the team.
We need to clean our own house (party) up before we start complaining about the other side.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are substantively the exact same person and if your reflex to this is to think that’s a crazy statement then the fact is you simply haven’t made the effort to look at who Joe Biden has always been, not who corporate press try to reinvent him as.
Well their is one difference, Trump will never ever be able to do as much damage to our nation as Joe Biden has, their just isn’t enough time left.
You are confusing acting with substance.
I would think McKinsey for its own reputation wouldn't confirm or deny it consulted for the state of Mississippi.
Very informative!❤
They fire workers and ruin their lives. What else ? Charge outrageous fees.
“If you go to a 7-Eleven . . .” Also, “I’ve never once mentioned a client name.” Lol
The three consulting firms widely regarded as constituting the Big Three are McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company and Boston Consulting Group.
A "bad" company? According to whom? If you don't like how their clients play, don't buy their products/services. If there were criminal acts, there's a judicial process for that. Otherwise this is all hearsay and book promotion.
Right?! Who are they to get to define who the bad actors are?
Consultant doesn't necessarily change the world. Sometimes, the leaders just need internal approval of their idea from external point of view so if there's a mess, the leaders will just say
"It's the snobbish McKinsey consultant that lead us to this mess"
While McKinsey can always switch on and off their claimants when they see fit. If good things happen from the client they worked with
"You know, it was because my advice they did that,"
If things went messy
"They were tough as a client. Really stubborn and when they implemented our recommendation, they didn't go all-in. That's why it leads to that,"
Exactly this! Corporate leaders need to have some insurance if their big idea turns out to be a dud. That is why you hire a consulting firm who basically understands they are paid to take the client's idea, maybe massage the numbers a bit and create a story (in a PowerPoint deck) which can be sold to other corporate leaders. In case the big idea doesn't deliver what is was supposed to deliver - "Well, it wasn't me, it was the consultants. Better hire a new consulting firm to fix this mess..." and the show goes on again.
Go KATIE! Thank you!
Katie Porter is the best
In the 90's, I wrote the all the Fund to Fund software for Mckinsey. The systems where the McKinsey firm members had their wealth. I am the son of a NYC cab driver who went to state school. When their fancy private school kids could not monitor the billions of dollars, I did it. I knew I could never work for McKinsey, but I also knew I knew how to count and make better systems then the rich kids did. They used my systems for over a dozen years.
I was reading somewhere that Harvard students are 60% legacy students at this point. They no longer take the best and brightest, if they ever did. They take those with money, power, and influence. You don't have to be smart to be born into that.
That’s fascinating. What did you end doing after that if I may ask?
@@ronaldo19832 I designed systems my entire career. Wall st and communications. Now I combine payment processing with communications and am launching that now.
Buy silver than crypto currency
Sell them all other countries stock market. Reset the equity stock market is much better
Its not exactly a secret.. Working as a management consultant, we simply put the most forefront research into new best practices for companies.
To whose benefit?
At whose ultimate expense?
The love of money is the root of all evil.
I’m in constant fear of all the evil in this world. It’s only going to lead to complete destruction of us all.
God wants us to be filled with hope and trust, not fear. He has given us hope through the promise that He can uphold us by His strength today. And He has also promised those who have faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation a life of eternity with Him.
As such, we should not be partakers of the world's fears. Instead, we should "sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be" our fear (Isaiah 8:13).
Throughout Scripture, the Lord admonished His people not to fear the world.
Why? The answer is twofold: (1) the Lord was with them (Genesis 26:24) and (2) fear of the world yields bondage (Proverbs 29:25).
This worldly bondage never originates with the Lord (Romans 8:15) for He has given Christians a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).
We need not fear those who can destroy the body (Matthew 10:28); rather, we ought to say the Lord is our helper, and we will not fear what men will do unto us
(Hebrews 13:6).
Unlike worldly fear that creates alarm and anxiety, Godly fear is a source of peace, assurance and confidence.
🙏 💜 🙏
👑
👆
Look to the King of Kings
The Lord of Lords
Jesus Christ
Amen but someone who Dont have a clue as to what you mean but i. Whatever tou do , do it unto the lord amen. People were already headed in the last days
Lord ill stay unattached from the things and people of this world
McKinsey's new client selection guidelines are probably price increases to weed out cheapskates.
Another example of unbridled greed hiding behind the benevolent mask of capitalism.
Need 10 "Katie Porters" to bring this Global giant down. What a discredit to all global students who work for this Consulting company.
McKinsey, Bain, and BCG are the leading consulting firms. Not very secretive on what they do though….thousands of former consultants are out there talking about what they did. No need to make ‘em sound like CIA paramilitary
The larger the corporations the unlimited resources at their disposals and able to manipulate the public, markets and government candidates. Should we remain small government or better government in regulating bad corporates behavior. We all co-exist together and play certain roll in society as the public, businesses and government, however when one party behave badly, then it should be removed. Corporations and government run by the people with flawed behavior and personal greed, that is one reasons there need to be laws for penalties and punishments When public citizens behave badly they are penalized and punished, why hasn't corporations be held to the same standard requirements.
They are protected rather than punished because a conflict of interest exists btw government, said company and Mckinsey ie corruption.
“This book fundamentally misrepresents our company. But we can’t actually say how.” Typical corporate BS.
They are still working on the pyramid structure PowerPoint.
I think you will need to solve the demand side dynamics. I think there should be a probe to see if companies with high concentration of ex-Mckinsey people who recieve significantly higher share of business from Mckinsey currently and that should be choked off by the regulators to avoid conflict of interest issues. This is less a Mckinsey issue and more a regulator issue. Influence politics is extremely bad for a country priding itself on meritocracy and leads to group think.
This is the same approaches for all international consulting firms
I didn't work at McKinsey & Co., but I work for a nonprofit as an accounting assistant.
Very clever how CBS Sunday Morning manages to slide in a plug for their parent company during each episode.
I wouldn't say the company mention here is a plug.
WTF? Are you smoking something? Um, that was not a plug. That was quite obviously a disclosure that in the past their parent company had hired the subject of this piece. It’s considered standard journalistic practice to disclose such past associations.
Wrong. That is basic journalistic ethics - disclosure that you had a relationship with them.
CBS News needs to talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants trees
So: These young, bright Americans are dedicating their lives to making Corporate America stronger?! The rich, richer?! JFC: NO THANK YOU. - There are far better ways to make a difference. These people will not be remembered for anything but their greed.
Lol 80% of Americans are described in your statement
Worked with them in the 80’s on a few transportation projects. Intense experience, but you learn a lot from them. For employees, it is about moving up the corporate ladder. They don’t discriminate with their client base.
Disagree. See Best Buy controversy
Thx!
It's not the role of a consulting company to set moral imperatives for their clients. Consultants use data to develop strategic options for organizations/governments and it's up to clients to determine which path to follow, understanding both positive/negative impact. The best consultants present all possible outcomes without judgement or bias. I've worked with McKinsey - nothing they did was different except they have a broader scope and set of resources from which to draw.
Yep.
Your statement is correct unless it is in the scope/statement of work lol
yeah mckinsey is smart. “i’ll help you see the way but it’s up to you to go”
Yeah, they are just a catalyst. Having said that, it's a lie for them to pretend they have moral high ground in environmental issues and then some of their largest clients be oil companies.
People love to hate on shady firms, whether they're shady or not
I worked in a previous life with an international consulting firm in London, UK. The experience was so horrific that now, looking back, I feel like I was raped!
I worked at Valeant Pharmaceuticals when J. Michael Pearson, spawn of McKinsey with no prior pharma experience, was brought on as CEO. I was laid off with 80 others when he eliminated R&D in 2008-09 and being "financially raped" is exactly the phrase that came to mind when going thru that experience. You hit the nail on the head.
CBS... DO DISNEY NEXT. I DARE YOU.
McKinsey was the consulting company who advised health insurers to start declining many claims to increase profits.
That sounds about right.
And they paid for advice they already knew? The insurance industry is based on pay in, never pay out!
If they could figure out how to keep you alive forever, we would live forever, then no payout for life insurance!
"they steal your watch and tell you the time"
Wait, no reference to the fact that the current Secretary of Transportation who is on the short list to be the next Democratic nominee for President worked for McKinsey? And before the comments come for me, not I am not a MAGA and would gladly second any motion to replace Katie Porter in the aforementioned short list over Wall Street Pete.
Thanks for the info. Somehow I missed the news that Pete worked at the firm for 2 1/2 years. He said he believes his work did not result in any loss of jobs, nor people losing their insurance, but led companies to increase efficiency and reduce overhead expenditures. Comforting to know.
What relevance does that give given he has no position relating to any of what the story was about?
Ethics always seems to go out the door for companies when money is involved
Consultants, investment bankers and PR firms ruined/ing this world, I say this as a former consultant and banker
That firm is insane - US Banks VC of consumer lending came from there; Sketchy practices
Ok sorry. Granted McKinsey is quite arrogant and is the most prestigious management consulting firm in the world, BUT if they are working for Purdue and the FDA at the same time it is the FDA's responsibility to do their own conflict of interest due diligence and have in their services agreements with firms that state FDA conflict policy. Is McKinsey to be blamed because they worked with both Purdue and the FDA and now the public shaming committee is calling foul....? The FDA should be held accountable, not McKinsey. Management Consultants are not held to the same ethical standards as CPA's or lawyers, but to now twist the story to put McKinsey on the Shaming Block is just out of line.
As a long fan of Sunday Morning I have to say this was really a disappointing waste of 8:26 minutes. Should we also look into the bowels of the Media and the twisted and misguided influence on the public.....? Very hypocritical I must say.
Oh, didnt the government give the Slacker family a pass when it finally settled the Opioide lawsuit......? Perhaps the Madam Congresswoman should work to ensure the government is working at the highest standard.....
Good piece, I'd never heard of McKinsey before, at least not to my recollection. Nefarious in some cases, indeed.
So they could have been working for both WCW and WWE at the same time.
They seem to have way too much power.
And, I would add, influence.
Their advice is not worth it. Never came across a McKinsey consultant who truly knew their stuff. But they are good salespeople and know how to talk.
They were just in my company and now people are getting laid off left and right.
These consulting firms are overhyped- especially in today's environment. They are often wrong in their analysis.
True but lots of reasons to why they maybe wrong and companies still find use for them.
I wish the reporters would doggedly pursue stories that matter to the rest of us!
they aren't allowed to be investigative reporters anymore, they find the wrong that the big guys don't want you to know.
watch the young turks
I've worked for a consulting company. They have ZERO loyalty to their employees. I'll NEVER go back to working for a Consulting company!
Buy silver than crypto currency
Sell them all other countries stock market. Reset the equity stock market is much better
This story is one of them.
"Outsourcing"... nuff said
AlixPartners is having a field day with this scrutiny of McKinsey
You say, “to be far” and then state something utterly unfair.
Porter is the one that needs to be President.
One billion dollars from taxpayers to change the laws and coverup profits. Couldn’t do it alone.
If I can't find the answers from consulting (asking) the personal within my own company then I hired the wrong people
Personal?
An external view is usually very useful.
Thoughts n Prayers 🏛✝️🇺🇸
Consulting companies are the bane of society.
The analysis in this report is not MECE. We suggest you try to be more structured.
lmao.
Who wrote the bad description?!
There telling the truth.
They don't do the best thing for people,
they serve the bottom line, without remorse, without emotional investment.
Most people worship money, and love the opinion of man...
I am tired of do-gooders - whether they are from the right or left - run a purity test on such things. Call me morally ambiguous, but I don't have a problem with big companies representing clients with different agendas. It's called facilitating the free-flow of information in the marketplace of ideas. It just so happens that it pays very well.
Lol this is funny. It’s not a prestigious job once you get in
Wait, McKinsey's advice actually worked for the opioid companies? Wow.
Wonder what kind of work they do for Koch Industries? Wait.....I'm not sure I want to know.
This story only talks about the negative impact McKinsey has had. The story is too one sided. You could literally find something negative to talk about with any major corporation on planet earth.
Sounds like a dangerous company!
GET THEM OUT OF GOVERNMENT !!!
It’s time for the reporter to retire
Include the French government I the list of clients.
Needless to say, the French were not at all pleased, and it is not clear that McKinsey really understood the project they were charging astronomical sums to work on.
I'm a small, local farmer who makes a living providing food to these snotty nose kids. I would love for them to "consult" me on how to transform my farm from a one person operation to a 0 person farm so i can sit back and watch them die off from starvation when the SHTF and i sell/barter my goods to only those that i want to. Most of these kids couldn't start a campfire if their lives depended on it.
Is this supposed to be an advert for them, or an expose?
What the reporters investigated had been revealed by others. See Wikipedia.
McKinsey didn't do a good job advising how to grow green lawns
I think this story has a sensationalist element. It’s not a secretive company … it’s just a consulting company that solves business problems and of course it won’t disclose its clients just as a bank doesn’t disclose who it’s advising and on what until the deal is announced
Would not be a breach of confidentiality!!!
I was working with people from the big 4 and McKinsey.....they were not really the brightest candles on the cake....there is more sound to the names than substance....
If a person gets fired it is because of competition.
Sounds like an evil list...
One of the largest scams on the planet. Pure reputation and the easiest braindead "advice" which is just how to steal and be a drug dealer that anyone could do. You just need to put on a professional veneer to convince the fancy high profile businesses to buy you.
Maybe there should be a movie about this company starring Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig as undercover McKinsey consultants
How about bringing back Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.
Mckinsey does not pass the smell test.
They are glorified consultants many of whom have never run a business! But a great organization still! They do have very nice reports and management consulting. Still, others could do that same job just as well, McKinsey is not the only talent!
It’s the guys who make the firm they are really really smart people IIT