ABOUT McKINSEY

In case you are unfamiliar with McKinsey & Company, let us offer

a few words about the organization that its members past and

present refer to as “the Firm.” Since its founding in 1923, McKinsey

& Company has become the world’s most successful strategic

consulting firm. It currently has 84 offices (and counting) around

the world and employs some 7,000 professionals who hail from 89

countries. It may not be the largest strategy firm in the world—

some of the big accounting firms have larger practices—but it is

certainly the most prestigious. McKinsey consults to more than a

thousand clients, including 100 of the world’s 150 largest companies,

as well as many state and federal agencies of the United States

and foreign governments. McKinsey is a brand name in international

business circles.

Several senior McKinsey partners have risen to international

prominence in their own right. Lowell Bryan advised the Senate

Banking Committee during the savings and loan crisis. Jon Katzenbach’s

books on the management of high-performance teams

appear on the bookshelves of CEOs around the world. Even more

visible are some of McKinsey’s alumni who have gone on to senior

positions around the world: Tom Peters, management guru and

coauthor of In Search of Excellence; Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM;

and Jeff Skilling, CEO of Enron, to name but three.

To maintain its preeminent position (and to earn its high fees),

the Firm seeks out the cream of each year’s crop of business school

graduates. It lures them with high salaries, the prospect of a rapid

rise through McKinsey’s meritocratic hierarchy, and the chance to

mingle with the elite of the business world. In return, the Firm

demands total devotion to client service, submission to a grueling

schedule that can include weeks or months away from home and

family, and only the highest-quality work. For those who meet

McKinsey’s standards, promotion can be rapid. Those who fall

short soon find themselves at the latter end of the Firm’s strict policy

of “up or out.”

Like any strong organization, the Firm has a powerful corporate

culture based on shared values and common experiences.

Every “McKinsey-ite” goes through the same rigorous training

programs and suffers through the same long nights in the office. To

outsiders, this can make the Firm seem monolithic and forbidding.

One recent book on management consulting likened McKinsey to

the Jesuits.

The Firm has its own jargon, too. It is full of acronyms: EM,

ED, DCS, ITP, ELT, BPR, etc. McKinsey-ites call their assignments

or projects “engagements.” On an engagement, a McKinsey team

will search for the “key drivers” in their quest to “add value.” Like

most jargon, much of this is simply verbal shorthand; some of it,

xiv Introduction

however, once understood, can be as useful to businesspeople outside

the Firm as it is to McKinsey-ites themselves.

In case you are unfamiliar with McKinsey & Company, let us offer

a few words about the organization that its members past and

present refer to as “the Firm.” Since its founding in 1923, McKinsey

& Company has become the world’s most successful strategic

consulting firm. It currently has 84 offices (and counting) around

the world and employs some 7,000 professionals who hail from 89

countries. It may not be the largest strategy firm in the world—

some of the big accounting firms have larger practices—but it is

certainly the most prestigious. McKinsey consults to more than a

thousand clients, including 100 of the world’s 150 largest companies,

as well as many state and federal agencies of the United States

and foreign governments. McKinsey is a brand name in international

business circles.

Several senior McKinsey partners have risen to international

prominence in their own right. Lowell Bryan advised the Senate

Banking Committee during the savings and loan crisis. Jon Katzenbach’s

books on the management of high-performance teams

appear on the bookshelves of CEOs around the world. Even more

visible are some of McKinsey’s alumni who have gone on to senior

positions around the world: Tom Peters, management guru and

coauthor of In Search of Excellence; Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM;

and Jeff Skilling, CEO of Enron, to name but three.

To maintain its preeminent position (and to earn its high fees),

the Firm seeks out the cream of each year’s crop of business school

graduates. It lures them with high salaries, the prospect of a rapid

rise through McKinsey’s meritocratic hierarchy, and the chance to

mingle with the elite of the business world. In return, the Firm

demands total devotion to client service, submission to a grueling

schedule that can include weeks or months away from home and

family, and only the highest-quality work. For those who meet

McKinsey’s standards, promotion can be rapid. Those who fall

short soon find themselves at the latter end of the Firm’s strict policy

of “up or out.”

Like any strong organization, the Firm has a powerful corporate

culture based on shared values and common experiences.

Every “McKinsey-ite” goes through the same rigorous training

programs and suffers through the same long nights in the office. To

outsiders, this can make the Firm seem monolithic and forbidding.

One recent book on management consulting likened McKinsey to

the Jesuits.

The Firm has its own jargon, too. It is full of acronyms: EM,

ED, DCS, ITP, ELT, BPR, etc. McKinsey-ites call their assignments

or projects “engagements.” On an engagement, a McKinsey team

will search for the “key drivers” in their quest to “add value.” Like

most jargon, much of this is simply verbal shorthand; some of it,

xiv Introduction

however, once understood, can be as useful to businesspeople outside

the Firm as it is to McKinsey-ites themselves.