Publication Date: 06/10/2022 ISBN: 9781847926258 Category:

When McKinsey Comes to Town

Walt Bogdanich, Michael Forsythe

Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Publication Date: 06/10/2022 ISBN: 9781847926258 Category:
Hardback

£20.00

Out of stock

Description

**A NEW YORK TIMES AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022**

An explosive expose of the world’s most prestigious and successful management consultancy.

‘Panoramic, meticulously reported and ultimately devastating’ Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain

McKinsey earns billions advising almost every major corporation as well as countless governments, including Britain’s, the USA’s and China’s. It boasts of its ability to maximise efficiency while making the world a better place. Its millionaire partners and network of alumni go on to top jobs in the world’s most powerful organisations. And yet, shielded by non-disclosure agreements, its work remains largely secret – until now.

In this propulsive investigation, two prize-winning journalists reveal the reality. McKinsey’s work includes ruthless cost-cutting in the NHS, incentivising the prescription of opioids and executing Trump’s immigration policies (the ones that put children in cages). Meanwhile its vast profits derive from a client roster that has included the coal and tobacco industries, as well as some of the world’s most unsavoury despots.

McKinsey proudly insists it is a values-led organisation. When McKinsey Comes to Town is a parable of values betrayed: a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has often made the world more unequal, more corrupt and more dangerous.

*A The Times Best Book of 2022*
‘A story of secrecy, delusion and untold harm’ Observer
‘Astonishing … makes you so angry you want to chuck rocks at its offices’ Sunday Times
‘Every page made my blood boil’ Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate

Publisher Review

A masterful work of investigative journalism ... to unearth conflicts of interest, corruption, hypocrisy and strategic blunders that read like a prosecutor's indictment ... The fact that neither regulators, the public, nor most of McKinsey's employees knew about these sordid episodes ... is a testament to the authors' prowess as investigative reporters ... superb * Washington Post * Deeply reported ... The portrait this book creates is one of a company chasing profits, spreading the gospel of downsizing and offshoring, its leaders virtually unmoored from any guiding principles or moral code ... a clear and devastating picture of the management philosophy that helped drive the decline of a stable ... middle class over the last 50 years' * The New York Times * In government and the private sector, the influence of McKinsey is difficult to overstate. Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe penetrate the firm's vaunted culture of secrecy to expose the malign ways in which McKinsey's 'scientific management' ends up impacting all of our lives. Panoramic, meticulously reported and ultimately devastating, this is an important book -- Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain Hypocrisy, avarice, ridiculous PowerPoints, aiding and abetting the world's polluters and drug companies. Every page made my blood boil as I read about McKinsey's flawed reasoning and the vast profits made from ethically dubious work for governments, polluting companies and big pharma -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate, author of The Price of Inequality Two of the finest investigative reporters in the business got behind the wall of secrecy erected by one the world's most influential companies. A revelatory - and disturbing - portrait of a powerful firm whose vaunted reputation is belied by its actions -- Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side After the publication of When McKinsey Comes to Town, the secretive consulting firm is going to need its own management consultant to address the damage. A tour de force of investigative reporting -- James B. Stewart, author of Den of Thieves

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