McKinsey was not held to account for what happened at U.S. Steel and Disneyland. No one sued the firm. No government agency accused it of wrongdoing. Consultants were simply doing what they were paid to do: give advice, not orders. As a result, if something bad happened, the spotlight didn’t shine on them. They took no credit publicly when their clients did well, and for years they accepted no blame when their recommendations sent companies off the road into the ditch.
