First published 2013
McKinsey & Company has operated as America's most powerful consulting firm since 1926. Financial journalist Duff McDonald traces how this secretive organization shaped the nation's biggest corporations and government institutions. McKinsey consultants restructured major companies, altered White House operations, and transformed business education. They helped create modern management practices but also participated in spectacular corporate failures at General Motors, Kmart, and Enron. McDonald penetrated McKinsey's insular culture to examine whether their influence justifies their reputation. The consultants call themselves simply "The Firm" and compare their methods to those of Jesuits or Marines. McDonald reveals how this private organization became indispensable to American business leaders while questioning the true value of their costly advice. The book exposes the inner mechanics of a company that may be America's most influential private institution.
Genres: history, business, politics, non-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-perspective, investigative-journalism
Setting: America, United States
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
400 pages · Hardcover · Simon & Schuster