When McKinsey Comes to Town

"John J. Lawler, who taught in the University of Illinois’s School of Employment and Labor Relations, believes management consultants mainly serve to legitimize the goals of their clients.85 “Clients like to be told they are doing the right thing,” Lawler said, adding that management techniques viewed as best practices “are very often propagated by consulting firms and thus these techniques become largely institutionalized in the business world.”"

"The most important takeaway from McKinsey’s July 2013 analysis was this: while drugstores and law enforcement officials were trying to limit how much OxyContin was coursing through the nation’s bloodstream, McKinsey was doing just the opposite, even suggesting ways to get around those safety measures."

"An even bigger problem, Peters said, might be the “disinvestment in people” in favor of bigger profits. “I really think the shareholder value maximization thing has done more harm than any single thing maybe in the country. It is the father of inequality, and inequality is the father of Trump.”"

"Leaving McKinsey is not a dishonor. It is more like college graduation, with the gift of high-level connections for future jobs. McKinsey knows that by seeding the business world with former employees, it stands to get new clients in return."

"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."

"“One of the feedbacks I got after an engagement was I was too academic. We don’t need academics. We need athletes. It’s about enduring pain, but it’s also about being focused on the team, focused on the victory.”"

"“Wedge yourself in and spread like an amoeba,”13 he said. “Once in, you should spread yourself in the organization and do everything.” In other words, he said, act like “a Trojan horse.”"