When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm

Ich habe die englische Originalfassung gelesen. Man kann das Buch sehr gut lesen und verstehen und es ist oft sehr spannend.Man bekommt einen guten Einblick in die Geschäftspraktiken dieser (und sicherlich ähnlicher Firmen) und man erfährt, wie stark unsere Welt und viele Regierungen von dieser Firma beeinflusst wurden und werden.Ich kann es sehr empfehlen.

As a former McKinsey consultant and current independent management adviser, I bought a copy of the book as soon as I heard that a fresh account of “McKinsey scandals” got published. In the following, I share my assessment of the book:1. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE BOOKIn each of its 15 chapters, the book focuses on a different business sector or country that McKinsey has been serving and how McKinsey’s work, sooner or later, led to some sort of disaster. To single out just a few entries from McKinsey’s hall of shame:a.) By now it is well-known that McKinsey helped American Pharma company Purdue Pharma sell more of its OxyContin drug, a painkiller and opioid which is highly addictive and has led to the death of 750.000 Americans.b.) McKinsey also provided consulting services to leading tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, aimed at increasing sales and preserving brand image at a time when the adverse health affects of smoking were well-understood.c.) McKinsey also developed strategies for American insurance company Allstate designed to increase its profits by reducing the number and size of claims, achieved by involving certain shares of its customer base systematically in time-consuming law suits and exploiting poor education or poverty of some of its claimants.d.) In many chapters of the book, McKinsey’s work for governments and state-owned companies is heavily criticized. The authors state that McKinsey was not questioning (in time) its work for undemocratic regimes and point to many potential conflicts of objectives, when McKinsey was serving both regulators as well as companies affected by their regulation. thate.) The authors blame McKinsey for hypocrisy, since it continues to serve a great share of the world’s largest polluters while presenting itself as a driving force for protecting our climate.There are many further such bad accounts described in this book, and as a former McKinsey consultant who believes his work has done more good than bad, it is sometimes hard to bear.2. EVALUATION OF THE BOOK+ The authors have undoubtedly conducted meticulous researched to write this book. They list their sources on more than 30 pages and report that they have interviewed nearly 100 current and former McKinsey employees. Investigating McKinsey is extremely difficult given how secretive the firm likes to operate. Whenever the book referred to McKinsey-internal processes and communications, the descriptions felt authentic to me in the sense: This probably has truly happened like this.+ The book also delivers very interesting accounts of business history, taking the reader back by sometimes up to 100 years ago, with a focus on how McKinsey, featured as more or less the single culprit, initially supercharged some industries before they ultimately collapsed.+ The book is useful to understand how McKinsey strategically builds its influence and woos new clients.+ Especially interesting are those chapters where the book reports a divide within McKinsey’s workforce, usually between the young and the old, namely when the former raise the question whether certain pieces of work are in line with the company’s values, which forces the latter to respond.- The book feels (is) lopsided towards the worst of McKinsey or consulting work. I myself have worked on projects on the other side of the spectrum, and the usual average of projects is just plain boring ;-) (such as “production efficiency increase of plant xyz”)- While the book mentions some strengths of McKinsey, I feel it comes short of actually properly acknowledging them. If it was so evil, why would thousands of graduates want to join McKinsey every year? Why would its clients rehire it, despite the large fees? How did McKinsey manage to become so effective in both delivering cost reduction as well as growth strategies?3. SOME PERSONAL REFLECTIONSI think this book is an important read, both for those aspiring to work or working in consulting as well as those interested in consulting work for other reasons. It tells how consulting work should NOT be done. I would also add that, in my personal view, the accounts given in this book describe worst-case, but not average scenarios.Furthermore, I think that McKinsey, as the “highest servant if capitalism” (my own words), reflects where our market economies currently stand. It is a mercenary after all and hired by where the money is. And in our current market economies, unfortunately most market actors are incentivized to increase their profits, not to e.g., save the environment.Still, given how much brillant and good-hearted talent it attracts, I also wish McKinsey would play an even stronger and more courageous force “for the good”. If it abandonded certain clients though, it is true that – at least in the short term – such lost business would be picked up by less moralistic competitors. It could be discussed whether or not McKinsey could benefit from such a move in the long term.I am a bit less concerned about potential conflicts of interests when McKinsey is serving several competitors or even regulators within the same industry at the same time. At least on operational levels, I did not observe any “knowledge leakage” between teams, and if McKinsey did not manage to keep teams working for different competitors strictly separate, it would risk losing several clients at once.All in all, the book makes a very interesting read. It would not deter me though from restarting my career at McKinsey, since I know the world is not perfect, but I did meet many colleagues at McKinsey who wished the world was a better place. Working with McKinsey is a fascinating experience, and if you do not find your niche in the firm, you can leave it at any time – but take with you your first-class business skillset staying with you for life, and which you can use for a good or a bad cause thereafter.I have tried to be as differentiated as possible in my review. I understand the anger and sadness of those who got damaged by McKinsey. Still though, it is an organization with 30.000 employees and, while the accounts shared in this book are devastating, in my own experience, they do not represent the average type of work that “the average McKinsey consultant” does. Still, let these absolute worst-case scenarios be a memorial for the future.P.S.: I have also published a video review on the book, which is hosted on my YOUinConsulting YouTube channel (see video cover picture attached).

Ich habe die englische Originalfassung gelesen. Man kann das Buch sehr gut lesen und verstehen und es ist oft sehr spannend.Man bekommt einen guten Einblick in die Geschäftspraktiken dieser (und sicherlich ähnlicher Firmen) und man erfährt, wie stark unsere Welt und viele Regierungen von dieser Firma beeinflusst wurden und werden.Ich kann es sehr empfehlen.

Das Bucht bestätigt das was viele schon lange geahnt haben... hinter den Kulissen der "Big Three" wird aktiv daran gearbeitet unsere Welt zu verschlimmern. Hierzu werden eine Menge Case Studies sowie Fakten geliefert. Das ist wirklich sehr informativ. Die Autoren gehen aber nicht tiefer in die Hintergründe rein. McKinsey ist ein exemplar für den Kapitalismus. Shareholder value ist immer das oberste Ziel. Egal wie "green" oder ethisch eine gewinnorientierte Firma arbeiten möchte, sobald dies ein Hindernis darstellt, werden solche Policen links liegen gelassen. Eine ethische, kapitalistische Firma ist ein Paradox, das kann es nicht geben. Wenn man die Gewinnorientierung mit massiven Macht in Verbindung stellt wie es bei McKinsey der Fall ist, werden Menschen kaputtgewirtschaftet. Mir fehlte im Buch diese Analyse, obwohl sich das logisch ableiten lässt. Solche Firmen mit solcher Macht müssen von Regierungen sehr streng überwacht und kontrolliert werden, sonst wird sie zur Last der Bevölkerung,

Das Bucht bestätigt das was viele schon lange geahnt haben... hinter den Kulissen der "Big Three" wird aktiv daran gearbeitet unsere Welt zu verschlimmern. Hierzu werden eine Menge Case Studies sowie Fakten geliefert. Das ist wirklich sehr informativ. Die Autoren gehen aber nicht tiefer in die Hintergründe rein. McKinsey ist ein exemplar für den Kapitalismus. Shareholder value ist immer das oberste Ziel. Egal wie "green" oder ethisch eine gewinnorientierte Firma arbeiten möchte, sobald dies ein Hindernis darstellt, werden solche Policen links liegen gelassen. Eine ethische, kapitalistische Firma ist ein Paradox, das kann es nicht geben. Wenn man die Gewinnorientierung mit massiven Macht in Verbindung stellt wie es bei McKinsey der Fall ist, werden Menschen kaputtgewirtschaftet. Mir fehlte im Buch diese Analyse, obwohl sich das logisch ableiten lässt. Solche Firmen mit solcher Macht müssen von Regierungen sehr streng überwacht und kontrolliert werden, sonst wird sie zur Last der Bevölkerung,