The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business
by Duff McDonald
View on GoodreadsMcKinsey spread modern management tools through corporations, government and business schools after its 1926 founding. That said, McDonald keeps asking whether its famously high fees buy what clients are promised, and he sets that influence against General Motors' decline, Kmart's troubles and Enron's collapse.
Core ideas
- The founding principles: James O. McKinsey was a University of Chicago accounting professor, and from 1937 Marvin Bower insisted on putting clients' interests ahead of revenue.
- Up or out: Consultants who aren't promoted are expected to leave, a practice documented with unusual access inside a private firm.
- When it went wrong: Former managing director Rajat Gupta's insider-trading scandal and Anil Kumar's 2010 guilty plea sit beside Enron, where Jeff Skilling was a former McKinsey consultant.
Published2013
Pages400
ISBN9781439190999
ReadDec 2024
