I've worked in more niche consulting where we brought in specific expertise and occasionally we crossed paths with McKinsey. It's true that they're not dumb and

I've worked in more niche consulting where we brought in specific expertise and occasionally we crossed paths with McKinsey. It's true that they're not dumb and they're not out and out frauds, but it's really hard to see what kind of value they are even trying to bring. One of the biggest projects I ever worked on, we came in at the tail end of McKinsey consultation to do implementation on their strategy. We just redid their whole strategy and reset the execution process they had set even though our remit was just implementation. They had written down all this smart sounding stuff, but it was unworkable and really not fit to purpose. And on the biggest existential question on the viability of their entire venture, I think they completely whiffed. Likely just told them what they wanted to hear so the project would move forward. Last I read, it has been an absolutely enormous write down for a company previously known for being invincible.