:When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm 4 stars

[Joanne]

When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm 4 stars

The title here says "Hidden", the Gr's blurb uses "Explosive". Personally I don't believe those adjectives are correct. Although the McKinsey firm strives for secrecy, I among a lot of others I am sure, were aware of their presence from the beginning of many of their more high profile clients (thinking of the tobacco and Pharma industries).

If you know nothing about McKinsey this could be an eye-opening book. Most people from Business/Financial backgrounds know the name McKinsey. Many of them dreamed of becoming a part of the McKinsey team. Of those that made it there, many of them were disenchanted when the hard truth of what they do became apparent.

After the initial chapters of the book, the authors delve into specific clients that McKinsey took on. Of those I read about the ones that interested me most were the ones I knew nothing about: The Sports franchises and McKinsey's move in with the Saudi Family and MSB.

A good expose but I believe only a small percentage of readers will find it a book for them.

[Joy D]

I really liked this one but l worked in consulting for years for a different company

[NancyJ]

I liked it a lot. I think more people need to know about the role they played in many big scandals that have hurt us all in unseen ways. The most fascinating to me was how they slowly corrupted whole industries. They did a disservice to clients first by sharing their secret strategies with their competitors. Simple things- like sharing pricing strategies, could eventually lead to inflationary spirals in multiple industries. Their spread shady practices throughout the banking industry, leading to the banking crisis, and a worldwide economic crisis that affected us all.

I think a lot of people blame big pharma for the opioid epidemic without knowing that McKinsey was the firm that enabled it to happen because of their cozy relationship with the FDA. Politicians often get blamed for economic problems and scandals that are caused by this firm.