When McKinsey Comes to Town

How one firm changed the world for the worse.

This was an interesting look at McKinsey. Few thoughts on it bulleted below. I don't think we can blame everything on McKinsey, even though the book feels like projecting that view. There are faults on both sides of aisle.

1. Ethics: a company will need to decide whether it values its ethics and values and has the want and courage to uphold them. Book's message is that McKinsey does not respect those internally on a consistent basis. The company has a lot of conflicting positions and grey areas.

2. Buyers responsibility: Governments and companies need to understand what they are buying. The book has classic cases where consultants recommend something they've been asked to recommend. It could stop there. However, companies go to great lengths in implementing, many times poorly, suggestions done on slide decks that are on theoretical level. Practical implementation is a few degrees off from PowerPoint visualizations. Also in this day and age many issues mentioned in the book would be avoided if the buyer would also have strong ethics values in the buying process and follow strictly ESG screening when buying these types of services. Sure, idealistic thinking, however if we want to stand for something both sides would need to improve a lot.

I can't even count how many times my jaw hit the floor reading this book. Just when you think you have some understanding of how corrupt people/companies can be, something like this just slaps you in the face with it. It's honestly horrendous and amazing all at the same time how many pies McKinsey has been able to stick their grubby thumbs into. Worth a read if you feel like being filled with horror and a healthy dose of righteous indignation.