5 ms·

Not sure what "next level" means. McKinsey is a consultant. If a company asks it to figure out how to make the world a better, happy place, it'll consult on th

by boh 5y ago

Not sure what "next level" means. McKinsey is a consultant. If a company asks it to figure out how to make the world a better, happy place, it'll consult on that, but they don't. McKinsey has been used as an excuse for a host of evil activity but it's their clients that asked them to advise them and the clients that execute on the suggestions.

wgj 5y ago
It's a little bit like intent laundering, isn't it.
- boh 5y ago
  Yes that's why they hire them. Often managers hire McKinsey to legitimize their own ideas and then use them as scapegoats if things go sideways. That's one of their main selling points.
- jacobr1 5y ago
  Even in the benign case it usually intent laundering. Consultants are often brought in to deal with organizational inability to do something that a substantial chunk of the employees already knows they need to do. It is one of the reasons they can be successful hiring people straight from school and putting them on big accounts. The basic formula for many of these jobs is to interview employees, figure out the way forward that the sponsoring exec really wanted anyway in the form a synthesis of what the employees suggested, add some data and pretty graphs to a report, and then lend the idea external credibility (and future blamability if it fails).
alistairSH 5y ago
That sounds very close to "just following orders". Enabling evil is itself evil. Whether or not McKinsey is, when taken as a whole, evil is debatable. But, they certainly do enough work with dictators and other known bad actors that we should have the debate.
- pempem 5y ago
  We should have that debate about every organization. McKinsey primarily (not exclusively) works with actors who have the ability to pay fees, and those tend to be actors in power. The number of organizations whose leaders have had intimate dealings with saudi arabia or other nation states with dictators at the helm would include most of our employers.
- boh 5y ago
  If the preference is to perceive the world as a Marvel movie, McKinsey can play the part of a secret society of evil do-ers. If there's any interest in the actual mechanics of an economy dependent on growth, "evil" is fairly common and spread out with individuals making decision independently (even if they're "just following orders")

by boh 5y ago

wgj 5y ago

It's a little bit like intent laundering, isn't it.

boh 5y ago
Yes that's why they hire them. Often managers hire McKinsey to legitimize their own ideas and then use them as scapegoats if things go sideways. That's one of their main selling points.
jacobr1 5y ago
Even in the benign case it usually intent laundering. Consultants are often brought in to deal with organizational inability to do something that a substantial chunk of the employees already knows they need to do. It is one of the reasons they can be successful hiring people straight from school and putting them on big accounts. The basic formula for many of these jobs is to interview employees, figure out the way forward that the sponsoring exec really wanted anyway in the form a synthesis of what the employees suggested, add some data and pretty graphs to a report, and then lend the idea external credibility (and future blamability if it fails).

alistairSH 5y ago

That sounds very close to "just following orders". Enabling evil is itself evil. Whether or not McKinsey is, when taken as a whole, evil is debatable. But, they certainly do enough work with dictators and other known bad actors that we should have the debate.

pempem 5y ago
We should have that debate about every organization. McKinsey primarily (not exclusively) works with actors who have the ability to pay fees, and those tend to be actors in power. The number of organizations whose leaders have had intimate dealings with saudi arabia or other nation states with dictators at the helm would include most of our employers.
boh 5y ago
If the preference is to perceive the world as a Marvel movie, McKinsey can play the part of a secret society of evil do-ers. If there's any interest in the actual mechanics of an economy dependent on growth, "evil" is fairly common and spread out with individuals making decision independently (even if they're "just following orders")