When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm
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- Create Date：2022-10-04 10:51:44
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Walt Bogdanich
- ISBN：0385546238
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Summary
An explosive， deeply reported expos� of McKinsey & Company， the international consulting firm that advises corporations and governments， that highlights the often drastic impact of its work on employees and citizens around the world
McKinsey & Company is the most prestigious consulting company in the world， earning billions of dollars in fees from major corporations and governments who turn to it to maximize their profits and enhance efficiency。 McKinsey's vaunted statement of values asserts that its role is to make the world a better place， and its reputation for excellence and discretion attracts top talent from universities around the world。 But what does it actually do？
In When McKinsey Comes to Town， two prizewinning investigative journalists have written a portrait of the company sharply at odds with its public image。 Often McKinsey's advice boils down to major cost-cutting， including layoffs and maintenance reductions， to drive up short-term profits， thereby boosting a company's stock price and the wealth of its executives who hire it， at the expense of workers and safety measures。 McKinsey collects millions of dollars advising government agencies that also regulate McKinsey's corporate clients。 And the firm frequently advises competitors in the same industries， but denies that this presents any conflict of interest。
In one telling example， McKinsey advised a Chinese engineering company allied with the communist government which constructed artificial islands， now used as staging grounds for the Chinese Navy--while at the same time taking tens of millions of dollars from the Pentagon， whose chief aim is to counter Chinese aggression。
Shielded by NDAs， McKinsey has escaped public scrutiny despite its role in advising tobacco and vaping companies， purveyors of opioids， repressive governments， and oil companies。 McKinsey helped insurance companies' boost their profits by making it incredibly difficult for accident victims to get payments; worked its U。S。 government contacts to let Wall Street firms evade scrutiny; enabled corruption in developing countries such as South Africa; undermined health-care programs in states across the country。 And much more。
Bogdanich and Forsythe have penetrated the veil of secrecy surrounding McKinsey by conducting hundreds of interviews， obtaining tens of thousands of revelatory documents， and following rule #1 of investigative reporting: Follow the money。
When McKinsey Comes to Town is a landmark work of investigative reporting that amounts to a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has often made the world more unequal， more corrupt， and more dangerous。
McKinsey & Company is the most prestigious consulting company in the world， earning billions of dollars in fees from major corporations and governments who turn to it to maximize their profits and enhance efficiency。 McKinsey's vaunted statement of values asserts that its role is to make the world a better place， and its reputation for excellence and discretion attracts top talent from universities around the world。 But what does it actually do？
In When McKinsey Comes to Town， two prizewinning investigative journalists have written a portrait of the company sharply at odds with its public image。 Often McKinsey's advice boils down to major cost-cutting， including layoffs and maintenance reductions， to drive up short-term profits， thereby boosting a company's stock price and the wealth of its executives who hire it， at the expense of workers and safety measures。 McKinsey collects millions of dollars advising government agencies that also regulate McKinsey's corporate clients。 And the firm frequently advises competitors in the same industries， but denies that this presents any conflict of interest。
In one telling example， McKinsey advised a Chinese engineering company allied with the communist government which constructed artificial islands， now used as staging grounds for the Chinese Navy--while at the same time taking tens of millions of dollars from the Pentagon， whose chief aim is to counter Chinese aggression。
Shielded by NDAs， McKinsey has escaped public scrutiny despite its role in advising tobacco and vaping companies， purveyors of opioids， repressive governments， and oil companies。 McKinsey helped insurance companies' boost their profits by making it incredibly difficult for accident victims to get payments; worked its U。S。 government contacts to let Wall Street firms evade scrutiny; enabled corruption in developing countries such as South Africa; undermined health-care programs in states across the country。 And much more。
Bogdanich and Forsythe have penetrated the veil of secrecy surrounding McKinsey by conducting hundreds of interviews， obtaining tens of thousands of revelatory documents， and following rule #1 of investigative reporting: Follow the money。
When McKinsey Comes to Town is a landmark work of investigative reporting that amounts to a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has often made the world more unequal， more corrupt， and more dangerous。
Reviews
Joseph
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Hopefully more people will review this book so the partisans at McKinsey will not artificially lower the book rating。 Although their disingenuous criticism of the book will paradoxically highlight what is wrong with McKinsey-- their inability to recognize that efficiency is not the sine qua non of business excellence。Although the book will not win any literary awards-- it is written in pedestrian， investigative journalism that would be found in The NY Times-- it is still riveting and infuriating Hopefully more people will review this book so the partisans at McKinsey will not artificially lower the book rating。 Although their disingenuous criticism of the book will paradoxically highlight what is wrong with McKinsey-- their inability to recognize that efficiency is not the sine qua non of business excellence。Although the book will not win any literary awards-- it is written in pedestrian， investigative journalism that would be found in The NY Times-- it is still riveting and infuriating。 The authors recount the history of McKinsey's founding and the business relationships it has cultivated over the past century。 It depicts the recycling of McKinsey analysts into government and business and thoroughly documents how McKinsey has been at the forefront of advising businesses who have brought us the 2007 financial crisis， the opioid crisis and the climate crisis among others。 The conflict of interests that the authors highlight-- where McKinsey will advise the government along with the companies who fall under government regulation-- highlights the duplicity of the company。 McKinsey states that there are company safeguards in place that mitigate these profound conflicts of interest。 This is balderdash。 St。 McKinsey， however， requires strict confidentiality， making it impossible to understand the clients whom they serve on different sides of an issue ， and more infuriating， purports to be a values-driven organization。 One of the most powerful aspects of the book is when employees call-out McKinsey for their hypocrisy and duplicity and are met by company bromides of "we care，" "we have to be better，" etc。， while secrecy continues。 For a company that boasts of "scientific management，" shouldn't these purportedly intelligent employees recognize that in scientific publication， authors are required to list ANY potential conflict-of-interest because of the potential bias that arises when money is involved because it potentially influences the findings。 McKinsey is a for-profit entity。 A lot of scientific research is non-profit that might get translated into commercial use。 Therefore， "science" gets filtered through a specific ideology and becomes less rigorous。Science is a search， a quest for answers that isn't motivated （at its best） by money。 Bastardizing science in the name of management in the quest for profits that enriches shareholders and executives while cities， employees and the environment suffer is insulting。 Also， if economics is the "dismal science" because there are so many variables that aren't included in modeling because of complexity， then shouldn't scientific management be the "abysmal science，" because to truly use a scientific lens， one has to factor individual， community， national， international variables that are complex so it essentially becomes a pseudo-science。 How many times do we have to hear that " our models" said this is "once and a lifetime occurrence？" Remember McKinseyites， if you use "science" based on published data to develop "best practices，" you are always one step behind the innovators who come first so that you have to incorporate them into future models。 Sorry McKinsey employees， it must be a shock to be told you are the best and the brightest when you are the equivalent of those you get a participation trophy for playing-- unfortunately your participation often leads to disaster。 。。。more
Hugh
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This was excellent but somewhere I imagine a room of lawyers and McKinsey execs were somewhat relieved to read it。 It lacked a real knockout blow， and some of the content was almost discrediting to the authors。There's a fair amount of late-capitalism， bad corporation stuff。 Companies hire McKinsey to help them deliver more value to shareholders， and often the workers are the victims。 This isn't at all revelatory， even if it's frustrating。 This is covered quickly and effectively early in the book This was excellent but somewhere I imagine a room of lawyers and McKinsey execs were somewhat relieved to read it。 It lacked a real knockout blow， and some of the content was almost discrediting to the authors。There's a fair amount of late-capitalism， bad corporation stuff。 Companies hire McKinsey to help them deliver more value to shareholders， and often the workers are the victims。 This isn't at all revelatory， even if it's frustrating。 This is covered quickly and effectively early in the book。 There are several chapters in the middle that reveal ways that McKinsey's actions contradict their values - working against the Affordable Care act， working with ICE during the Trump border detainment debacles， etc。 This caused a lot of internal strife among the McKinsey rank and file， which is interesting to read about。There are several examples of governments enlisting McKinsey to deliver terrible policy advice for exorbitant fees， while also working for the companies which benefit from these policies。 Governments are not businesses and should not be run by the same principals， but we're still learning that the hard way。 The meat of the book， in my opinion， documents McKinsey's involvement with objectively unethical， and sometimes illegal mandates for big tobacco， Purdue Pharma， Allstate and Enron， among others。 The stories here are shocking but not surprising， and all end on some variation of "McKinsey apologised/paid a fine/fired a couple people and promised never to do it again"。There are several pages devoted to the Houston Astros cheating， which I liked reading but found irrelevant and somewhat damaging to the thesis of the book。Overall the book is a good read -- if you don't know McKinsey or the world in which they operate， much of this will be eye-opening and enraging。 At this point in America's history though， it all feels depressingly unsurprising， part-and-parcel of How America Does Business。 There is some hope in the form of moral， idealistic younger employees who abhor the 'growth at all costs' mantra and are vocal about it。 Maybe this will incite more revealing and damning exposes， in the way that Dopesick: Dealers， Doctors， and the Drug Company that Addicted America and Pain Killer: A "Wonder" Drug's Trail of Addiction and Death opened the door for books like Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty。 。。。more
Facosow
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Terrible hack job。 Clearly partisan pov
Shishene
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