McKinsey & Company: The First Management Consultants - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 52]

This is Jesse Pujji and today we’re breaking down McKinsey & Company, the world’s pre-eminent management consulting firm. Founded in the thick of the Industrial Revolution, McKinsey set about professionalizing the way businesses were managed. An accountant by trade, James McKinsey, took inspiration from a range of well-established professions like engineers, doctors, and lawyers to create a new category. 

Today, some 100 years later, management consultants are entrenched in every part of the global economy and McKinsey continues to lead the field. To break down the business, I’m joined by Romeen Sheth, a McKinsey alum and the current President of Metasys Technologies. Please enjoy this business breakdown of McKinsey & Company.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Show Notes

[00:02:35] - [First question] - What is McKinsey & Company and what management consulting looks like

[00:04:52] - Their project-based model and what’s being bought and sold when McKinsey makes a sale

[00:07:36] - The scale of the business and how profitable it is

[00:08:58] - How many projects McKinsey is running and how big of an opportunity management consulting is

[00:10:37] - McKinsey’s famous ownership model and how it works

[00:12:49] - The history of McKinsey, who started it, and how it has evolved in modern times

[00:19:01] - How the firm has changed in the post-Bower era

[00:22:12] - McKinsey’s biggest competitors, their dynamics of practice groups, and vertical projects

[00:25:46] - How a CEO or top level manager decides which management consulting firm to do business with

[00:27:38] - The overview of a normal project for McKinsey, what they sell, and costs associated with it

[00:33:07] - The process of marketing and sales and their talent flywheel

[00:36:07] - The traditional side of their sales and marketing and the McKinsey Quarterly

[00:37:44] - How someone can pitch business to McKinsey and their sales process

[00:39:47] - What makes the organization special and unique from a team or work perspective

[00:41:01] - Their talent model and how they find and develop their talent 

[00:45:14] - How their staffing model is unique and how they tie feedback into staffing

[00:51:06] - Examples of the scandals that have happened and why

[00:55:24] - The biggest growth levers of the business looking forward

[01:03:52] - What could happen to make McKinsey a shell of its former self 

[01:05:38] - Where Romeen would direct people to go for further study; The Firm

[01:06:31] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying McKinsey’s story

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