4 ms·

I don't remember seeing HN articles about McKinsey before this month or last. Now there are three articles about McKinsey on HN, including one that says that th

by cafard 7y ago

I don't remember seeing HN articles about McKinsey before this month or last. Now there are three articles about McKinsey on HN, including one that says that the Houston Astros' sign-stealing exemplifies the decline of a McKinsified America. (Or maybe it's the Astros that are M'd.) How did it become the flavor of the month?

mdorazio 7y ago
Really? I see McKinsey posts come up at least once a quarter. Just do a google site search on HN for "mckinsey".
SigmundA 7y ago
I would like to know too, thought it was Baader–Meinhof effect.
wil421 7y ago
McKinsey comes up because they are an elitist consulting firm and HN is somewhat of an elitist forum. I am using elitist in a good way, although there’s certainly elitist attitudes on here. As someone who might join a Big 4 in IT consulting soon it’s nice to see what McKinsey is up to. It’s much nicer to see accountability for one’s actions.
- CobrastanJorji 7y ago
  > I am using elitist in a good way, although there’s certainly elitist attitudes on here. Wait, that last time you said elitist, did you also mean it as a good thing?
  - wil421 7y ago
    Only if I was part of the elite. ;-)
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
mayneack 7y ago
McKinsey has been generally in the news of late as Pete Buttigieg has gotten more traction in the polls because that's that he credits for much of his experience. Its probably not HN specific.
kevinconaway 7y ago
Likely due to the recent NYT article that detailed how McKinsey helped the Trump administration carry out its immigration policies[0]. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/us/mckinsey-ICE-immigration.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/us/mckinsey-ICE-immigrati...
theslurmmustflo 7y ago
Pete Buttigieg is surging, McKinsey is in the air. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigieg-secret-work-mckinsey_n_5de83018e4b00149f73aef4e https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigieg-secret-work-mc...
- drawkbox 7y ago
  Sundar Pichai is also McKinsey alum, so in a way McKinsey has Google now. People are also starting to take note of some of the bad things McKinsey have been involved in like their role in Enron (CEO was McKinsey and it was their 'sandbox'), role in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), role in Saudi clampdown on dissidents, support of authoritarian regimes and the Great Recession 2008 financial crisis and many, many more scandals or questionable actions. [1][2] > McKinsey is said to have played a significant role in the 2008 financial crisis by promoting the securitization of mortgage assets and encouraged the banks to fund their balance sheets with debt, driving up risk, which 'poisoned the global financial system and precipitated the 2008 credit meltdown'... Overall, like the other management consulting firms, McKinsey and the like can be used to justify some anti-competitive/anti-consumer/anti-employee but pro-board/executive or authoritarian policies and introduce plausible deniability for the directors that employ McKinsey. Some have said McKinsey is a "culture of corruption". [1] > McKinsey's fingerprints can be found at the scene of some of the most spectacular corporate and financial debacles of recent decades. — Ben Chu, The Independent (2014) > Defenders of McKinsey claim that the firm merely advises, and is not a decision-maker. Plausible deniability on both the company and consulting firm, they deny liability for all parties involved in a McKinsey action. > Nevertheless, since the end of the 20th century, McKinsey has been either directly involved in, or closely associated with, a number of notable scandals. Reuters describes these incidents as indicating "not bad apples, [but] a culture of corruption". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#Role_in_corporate_accounting_scandals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#Role_in_c... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#2008_financial_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#2008_fina...
- cafard 7y ago
  Thank you. I have not been following the information about Buttigeig, and was unaware of this.
sincerely 7y ago
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has been relatively outspoken about his time working at McKinsey (although he can't discuss specifics due to an NDA), which may have sparked a wave of 'what does McKinsey actually do'
sjy 7y ago
Matt Stoller has been pumping out issues about government contracting over the past few months, and they’ve all been popular on HN. McKinsey is the archetypal management consulting firm and the role of consultants is an important part of any discussion about the concentration of market power. Often comment on these issues concerns the tech companies many HN readers work for.
Nicholas_C 7y ago
The Astros’ current general manager Jeff Luhnow worked at McKinsey before he got into baseball.

by cafard 7y ago

mdorazio 7y ago

Really? I see McKinsey posts come up at least once a quarter. Just do a google site search on HN for "mckinsey".

SigmundA 7y ago

I would like to know too, thought it was Baader–Meinhof effect.

wil421 7y ago

McKinsey comes up because they are an elitist consulting firm and HN is somewhat of an elitist forum. I am using elitist in a good way, although there’s certainly elitist attitudes on here. As someone who might join a Big 4 in IT consulting soon it’s nice to see what McKinsey is up to. It’s much nicer to see accountability for one’s actions.

CobrastanJorji 7y ago
> I am using elitist in a good way, although there’s certainly elitist attitudes on here. Wait, that last time you said elitist, did you also mean it as a good thing?
- wil421 7y ago
  Only if I was part of the elite. ;-)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

mayneack 7y ago

McKinsey has been generally in the news of late as Pete Buttigieg has gotten more traction in the polls because that's that he credits for much of his experience. Its probably not HN specific.

kevinconaway 7y ago

Likely due to the recent NYT article that detailed how McKinsey helped the Trump administration carry out its immigration policies[0]. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/us/mckinsey-ICE-immigration.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/03/us/mckinsey-ICE-immigrati...

theslurmmustflo 7y ago

Pete Buttigieg is surging, McKinsey is in the air. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigieg-secret-work-mckinsey_n_5de83018e4b00149f73aef4e https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pete-buttigieg-secret-work-mc...

drawkbox 7y ago
Sundar Pichai is also McKinsey alum, so in a way McKinsey has Google now. People are also starting to take note of some of the bad things McKinsey have been involved in like their role in Enron (CEO was McKinsey and it was their 'sandbox'), role in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), role in Saudi clampdown on dissidents, support of authoritarian regimes and the Great Recession 2008 financial crisis and many, many more scandals or questionable actions. [1][2] > McKinsey is said to have played a significant role in the 2008 financial crisis by promoting the securitization of mortgage assets and encouraged the banks to fund their balance sheets with debt, driving up risk, which 'poisoned the global financial system and precipitated the 2008 credit meltdown'... Overall, like the other management consulting firms, McKinsey and the like can be used to justify some anti-competitive/anti-consumer/anti-employee but pro-board/executive or authoritarian policies and introduce plausible deniability for the directors that employ McKinsey. Some have said McKinsey is a "culture of corruption". [1] > McKinsey's fingerprints can be found at the scene of some of the most spectacular corporate and financial debacles of recent decades. — Ben Chu, The Independent (2014) > Defenders of McKinsey claim that the firm merely advises, and is not a decision-maker. Plausible deniability on both the company and consulting firm, they deny liability for all parties involved in a McKinsey action. > Nevertheless, since the end of the 20th century, McKinsey has been either directly involved in, or closely associated with, a number of notable scandals. Reuters describes these incidents as indicating "not bad apples, [but] a culture of corruption". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#Role_in_corporate_accounting_scandals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#Role_in_c... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#2008_financial_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#2008_fina...
cafard 7y ago
Thank you. I have not been following the information about Buttigeig, and was unaware of this.

sincerely 7y ago

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has been relatively outspoken about his time working at McKinsey (although he can't discuss specifics due to an NDA), which may have sparked a wave of 'what does McKinsey actually do'

sjy 7y ago

Matt Stoller has been pumping out issues about government contracting over the past few months, and they’ve all been popular on HN. McKinsey is the archetypal management consulting firm and the role of consultants is an important part of any discussion about the concentration of market power. Often comment on these issues concerns the tech companies many HN readers work for.

Nicholas_C 7y ago

The Astros’ current general manager Jeff Luhnow worked at McKinsey before he got into baseball.