All photos © Am Ang Zhang 2014
Book:
“You
can’t get fired for hiring McKinsey & Company.”
It often
goes unmentioned, but McKinsey has indeed offered some of the worst advice in
the annals of business. Enron? Check. Time Warner’s merger with AOL? Check.
General Motors’s poor strategy against the Japanese automakers? Check. It told
AT&T in 1980 that it expected the market for cellphones in the United States
A thought-provoking new book
called “The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American
Business,” which comes out next Tuesday, offers a fascinating look behind the
company’s success.
The book, by Duff McDonald,
chronicles McKinsey’s rise but also raises an important question about it that
is applicable to the entire netherworld of consultants, advisers and other
corporate hangers-on: “Are they worth it or not?”
The answer amounts to hundreds of
billions of dollars annually. Indeed, the army of advisers whispering into the
ear of Verizon and Vodafone (its C.E.O. is a former McKinsey partner) over the
weekend for their work on the $130 billion deal stand to make over $200 million
alone. And, perhaps most important, they don’t have to give the money back if
the deal turns sour.
Mr. McDonald’s book explores the
remarkable and intriguing disconnect between the advice McKinsey offers and the
ultimate results.
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