The recent announcement by McKinsey & Company that it plans to cut roughly 10% of its workforce has sent ripples through the consulting world, reigniting debate about the future of the industry. This is not about one firm, one round of layoffs, or one business cycle. It signals an irreversible shift in how value is created in consulting.
Having spent a significant part of my career at McKinsey, I saw it grow and flourish in an era when information was scarce. Even basic market intelligence required large teams working for months to gather and synthesize data. The digital age brought a data explosion and democratized access, and McKinsey adapted again by expanding its capabilities into advanced analytics and technology-enabled transformation.
That advantage is now under pressure in the AI age.
The existential threat in the AI age
While the digital age reduced information asymmetry, the AI age goes further. It increasingly equalizes analytical and recommendation capabilities. Firms like McKinsey built a powerful competitive moat by hiring the best analytical minds from top universities—excelling at data synthesis, first-principles problem-solving, and translating insight into recommendations. In the AI age, however, that advantage is becoming commoditized.
This shift is part of a broader transformation of white-collar work. Contrary to early assumptions, AI is impacting knowledge work more than blue-collar roles. I expect that over the next five years, nearly 300 million white-collar jobs will be impacted globally, with around 100 million at risk of becoming obsolete. Work that is highly cognitive and already digitized is particularly susceptible.
Consulting sits squarely within this zone of disruption. As the traditional consulting model faces growing pressure, the premium for future talent will no longer rest on analytical horsepower alone.
The center of gravity has shifted: Consulting is being redefined
The need for consulting services is not disappearing, but the source of value is shifting decisively. Traditionally, firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain (MBB) sat at the top of the consulting value chain through high-value strategy work. Over the years, McKinsey has invested significantly in building technology and execution capabilities, but structural challenges remain. In contrast, execution-centric firms like Deloitte, EY, and Accenture, built with a different DNA, were able to more naturally combine advisory with technology and large-scale execution.
In the wake of a troubling economy rife with layoffs—and an unemployment rate of 4.6 percent – employees are leaving the corporate grind in droves—some voluntarily, some not so much.
In October, Target slashed 1,800 jobs under newly appointed CEO, Michael Fiddelke. In November, Verizon laid off 13,000 employees—the largest single layoff in the company’s history. And most recently, Omnicom laid off 4,000 employees, following the completion of its acquisition of the Interpublic Group (IPG).
Paul Wolfe, a seasoned HR executive who spent over two decades in the industry working for brands like Indeed.com, Match.com and Condé Nast has seen his share of layoffs in the industry. “Companies often time layoffs for Q4 because they’re trying to clean up the balance sheet before a new year or a new strategy,” Wolfe told me.
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
You spent 25 years with the same firm? Doesn’t matter. Many agree this market is not normal. We are truly in unprecedented times.
So what happens next?
Some point to the juxtaposition of the blue-collar work they may have to take on—having a Master’s to make matchas or utilizing their engineering degree to drive Lyfts. Others defend and encourage the minimum-wage work, doing what they need to do to get by. Many have written heart-wrenching posts on LinkedIn, with last-resort, urgent requests for help.
But what if there’s a better use of your time and talent?
Consulting: It’s Not Your Father’s Sidegig
Hey, listen, I get it. The word “consultant” can be a little nebulous. Some consultants might have even recommended the “restructuring” that ultimately laid you off.
But I’m here to tell you that consulting is getting a lot more interesting. Consultants are now infused with the elite talent who once graced the corporate hallways of major brands and agencies.
If you’re lucky, one will grace your team’s decks and campaigns with the same guidance that doubled the bottom line of a Fortune 100 company.
As an author and board member for Payscale, HR veteran Wolfe told me, “We’re in a Great Reassessment where a lot of talented people are deciding they’d rather design work on their own terms. For some, consulting after a layoff isn’t a fallback—it’s a conscious choice to protect their health, their families, and their sense of purpose.”
“For many years, there was a social contract between employees and the companies they served,” said Theresa Fuchs-Santiago, executive coach & founder of The Courage Space. “Somewhere along the way, people became line items and consulting has become the way to reclaim the agency and safety that corporate can no longer promise.”
The news of Omnicom evaporating roles once the merger was finalized lit the internet on fire with former employees, advertising reporters, and industry experts weighing in.
One of my favorite posts was from Adam Ritchie, principal at Adam Ritchie Brand Direction, who wrote on LinkedIn, “Today’s Omnicom story was really ‘Omnicom creates 4,000 direct competitors’ because a good deal of those affected will now go indie and never put their fates in the hands of a single large employer again. When a supernova explodes, new stars are born.”
Mic drop, Sir.
And he’s right. First-string quarterbacks are being let go and are hovering over a handful of leadership jobs available. Fed up with eight rounds of interviews and mind-numbing leadership assessment tests, they’re starting their own squad.
Gab Ferree, former VP of Global Communications at Bumble, Inc., is one of many comms leaders no longer playing the corporate game. “I refuse to put my financial future in the hands of a corporation again. Massive layoffs are now business as usual, meaning the whims of board members directly impact my ability to support my family and provide healthcare. I’ve decided to no longer participate in that ecosystem.”
Today, Ferree runs Off the Record, and is focused on arming other communications leaders with the strategic skills to survive budget cuts. “I want to protect as many communications professionals as I can from layoffs by making them more strategic and better tied to business value. In my community, we focus on making comms leaders indispensable by speaking the C-suite’s language and proving our impact on the bottom line.”
Robyn Jackson Malone, CEO & Founder of RJ Communications and former agency executive at Zeno Group and Citizen Relations said, “When I started my agency 5 years ago, it wasn’t under the backdrop of huge agency mergers and layoffs like we’re experiencing now. But today, we consistently find ourselves competing with the big agencies. That’s not something I could’ve said 5 years ago. I think it’s one-part big agency bloat and bureaucracy fatigue, and one-part day-to-day access to seasoned, senior-level advisors that we offer.”
No Strings Attached
With the chords cut and the rules no longer applying, top-tier talent now running their own shops have complete autonomy in who they want to work with, both brand-wise and people-wise, and are creating behind-the-scenes power networks to scale and grow their businesses quickly.
“We call our model ‘anchored but borderless,’” said Malone. Particularly with the back-to-office mandates, the big guys are limiting their talent pool based on geography—that isn’t a limitation we have so we get to choose the specific talent and subject matter experts who are best able to address our partners’ needs, irrespective of geography.”
And while there are great referral and networking sites like Mixing Board, powered by Axios, Meetup, and CommsConsultants.com, industry vets are getting scrappy, doing simple calls for consultants on their LinkedIn.
Lindsay Lapchuk, head of GTM and Communications at Notebook Agency, wrote a LinkedIn post asking for folks to be part of the agency’s go-to referral roster.
“The RFP is dying. There’s less patience for red tape, slow processes, and unnecessary overhead. People want to move quickly, get a trusted introduction, and just go. We’re seeing a real surge in demand right now for strong comms and PR talent. Our clients know our work, and they know our bar is high, so they trust us to help them find the right people,” said Lapchuk.
Lapchuk’s post attracted 50 freelancers and small shops into the network within 24 hours. “The talent pool out there right now is unlike anything I’ve seen in my career. What’s noticeable about the freelancers and small teams is how fast they’re moving. They’re experimenting and learning, and using AI to build stuff. And honestly, they’re outpacing the big agencies.”
Recruiters are seeing the same thing. “There are very talented communications professionals who have stepped into consulting this year,” said Brooke Kruger, Founder and CEO of top communications search firm, KC Partners. “These are senior leaders who have run global teams, handled real crisis moments and know how to build a narrative from the inside. Their move into independent work says a lot about where the industry is headed. Companies want seasoned counsel without the overhead and senior talent wants more control over how they work,” she shared.
The Next Generation Employee
AI might be the word d’jour when it comes to the future of work, with a Pew Research Center survey citing 52 percent of U.S. workers were worried about AI’s potential role in the workplace, but for consultants, AI is their account executive grinding out write-ups and reports in milliseconds, allowing them to run and operate at the speed of business.
Amanda Coffee, former Under Armour and PayPal executive, uses AI to scale her PR consultancy, Coffee Communications. “As a solo practitioner, I’ve been able to scale my work because AI steps in as a designer, data scientist, video editor, and copywriter when I need it. When I host an event, I can turn the panel recording into an article in one sitting, and I can use CapCut’s AI tools to produce social-ready videos without slowing down. It makes my time more billable because I can deliver the in-person event and the full content package in the same window of time. It all adds up, and it’s changed how much I can take on as one person.”
Consultants, especially those that have been around the proverbial corporate block, are savvy when it comes to building a business. The same business plan they wrote for the brand they worked for? They are now writing for themselves. From services offered to their monetization and marketing models, these former corporate big-wigs know exactly what it takes to run a business, and now, have the runway to run their own.
Former PR executive for Tinder, Reebok, and Ford Motor Company, Dan Mazei, believes the path to leadership and P&L management has always been stifled by politics, red tape, and other impediments. Now running his own brand marketing and communications shop, All Tangled Roots, Mazei sees the new era of doing business as more transparent. “We’re now in an unprecedented marketplace where battle-tested professionals can connect directly with leaders, negotiate their own terms, and plug immediately into the most critical of decisions. Everyone gets what they want, and the value exchange is much more transparent.”
Shawn Smith, founder and CEO of Shawn Smith Communications, operates a consultancy out of Los Angeles. The former Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. executive shared, “AI is a powerful support tool, but the real value we provide comes from creativity, experience, and judgment. The beauty of running my own agency is pairing the efficiency of AI with the strategic rigor I’ve built over years leading campaigns for global brands. It gives us the ability to be nimble and move with speed. Technology handles the tedious work, freeing me to focus on strategy, storytelling, and the insights that truly move a brand forward.”
And while the surviving corporate squad retains a steady paycheck every two weeks, they’re peering through the curtains watching the renegades—the group that is pursuing their passions and reclaiming their power. That’s a feeling no paycheck can provide.
So don’t look down your nose at a consultant. Look up to them. They are former VPs and Presidents who ran the companies you rely on every day. They’re battle-tested and brave and have more experience and institutional knowledge than that AI bot giving you references from 2016.
In today’s corporate world, consultants are no longer the castaways, they’re the new C-Suite.
Banks using generative artificial intelligence tools could boost their earnings by as much as $340 billion annually through increased productivity, according to consultants hoping to help the industry adapt in this fast-moving area. This would amount to a 9% to 15% increase in operating profits, according to a McKinsey Global Institute report published Tuesday. Corporate […]
The struggle women face landing senior leadership roles in corporate America is commonly blamed on the “glass ceiling” — the metaphorical gender barrier that blocked their ascent to the highest levels of management. Yet new research indicates that the problems for women in the workforce begin far lower down the professional ladder.
Women early in their careers are far more likely to stumble on a “broken rung,” or failing to get a promotion out of their entry-level jobs at the same rate as men, according to a new study from consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and Lean In, the nonprofit started by former Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
For every 100 male employees promoted from entry-level jobs to managerial roles, only 87 women received a similar promotion, according to the report. The broken rung is even harder to surmount for women of color, with only 73 receiving that first promotion for every 100 men who are moved up, the study found.
That failure to climb the ladder isn’t due to lack of ambition, with the survey of 27,000 workers finding that women have the same goals for advancing their careers as men. But bias may play a role, with corporate leaders often promoting young male employees on their potential, while young women are judged more by their track records — a tougher standard when female workers are just starting in their careers.
“Social science would tell you that gender bias, and bias around what a leader looks like, all of that is much more likely to creep in when employees have shorter track records,” Rachel Thomas, CEO of Lean In, told CBS MoneyWatch.
Eliminating the glass ceiling may seem easier given that the pipeline is smaller at the top of the corporate hierarchy, she added. But it’s the broken rung where more attention needs to be focused because that will unlock more opportunity for women, leading to a greater number in leadership roles and potentially boosting the share of women in C-suite roles, which now stands at 28%.
“We don’t face a constraint on ambition”
The pandemic created major headwinds for many women in the workforce, with millions dropping out of the labor market as schools and child-care centers shuttered. While women have returned to the job market in force, many say they prefer hybrid or flexible roles, which have become more common as the health crisis receded.
That may have fueled a notion that women’s ambition is waning. But that’s not the case, McKinsey and Lean In found. Indeed, 96% of women said their career is important to them, and 81% want to to be promoted to the next level this year, matching men’s aspirations at work.
“We don’t face a constraint on ambition — we face a constraint on opportunity,” said Lareina Yee, senior partner at McKinsey & Co.
In some ways, the pandemic has actually unlocked career ambitions for women, with the report finding that 1 in 5 said the flexibility afforded by hybrid workplaces and remote jobs have helped them stay in their job or avoid cutting their hours. And women who work in such roles are just as ambitious as women and men who work on-site, the study found.
The impact of “microaggressions”
Another myth about women in the workplace is that microaggressions, or comments or actions that subtly demean a person based on their gender, race or other attributes, are a minor issue. But the analysis found that they can have lasting and damaging impacts on women at work.
For instance, the study found that women are twice as likely as their male colleagues to be interrupted or hear comments about their emotional state, while they are also more likely than a man to have a coworker take credit for their work.
Women who deal with microaggressions are likely to “self-shield,” or adjust their actions or how they look in order to protect themselves. But the impact can be detrimental to their engagement at work, with the analysis finding that these women are more than three times as likely to think about quitting.
Leaders at work need to communicate that microaggressions are harmful and aren’t welcome, the report said.
“I’m hopeful that we can change bias in the workplace — and a phrase we have used many times is, ‘You have to interrupt it where it occurs’,” Yee noted.
Fraud rates continue to climb each year as fraudsters scale operations. For banks seeking to protect themselves from financial crime, it can feel like a losing battle. The Federal Trade Commission received more than 2.4 million fraud reports in 2022, with total losses due to fraud rising more than 30% year over year to nearly […]
Citizens Bank aims to retrain its workforce as it explores use cases of generative AI within contact center systems, advising and coding.
Photographer: Scott Eisen/Bloomberg
As the $222 billion bank invests in AI, it is looking to its workforce to execute its initiatives rather than looking outward, Beth Johnson, chief experience officer at Citizens Bank, told Bank Automation News.
“If we can give [our team] better tools to answer questions faster, if we can train them faster, make them more efficient,” that would add value to the bank’s operations, Johnson said.
For example, within branches, thebank aims to train its workers to provide advice in addition to working as a teller, Michael Ruttledge, chief information officer at Citizens Bank, told BAN.
“We’ve also taken some folks out of the branch, and we’re training them as engineers,” Ruttledge said. “We have got an academy program where we take people who are non-tech but have the aptitude and the skill to be able to learn that and grow that.”
The bank also looks to train employees who have a computer science or data science degree but did not go into that field, he said.
AI’s impact on the workforce
While a recent Challenger, Gray and Christmas report stated that nearly 4,000 jobs were eliminated in May 2023 due to increasing use of AI in companies, experts believe it’s too early to say how AI will affect the job market.
“Technology is going to increase the productivity of the banks and the workforce at the same time, and when we see change, there’s always incredible increase in the amount of work they have to do to actually roll out change,”Carlo Giovine, a partner at QuantumBlack, McKinsey & Co.’s artificial intelligence arm, told BAN.
The increased productivity can allow banks to double down on customer experience or enter new businesses, Giovine said.
“I think the next year will be mostly experimenting with technology, updating risk frameworks and then adding guardrails to essentially prevent misuse, prevent audit risks that we know these models are capable of,” he said. “I don’t expect dramatic changes, but then, as it’s become more mainstream, and is more proven and safer, we may see banks taking different stances.”
These are the stories making headlines in fashion on Wednesday.
Business of Fashion and McKinsey Release State of Fashion 2023 report Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Co. released their annual report, “The State of Fashion 2023,” containing insights for the upcoming year and 10 key trends that are set to shape the industry. Business of Fashion CEO Imran Amed cautions of an upcoming global “polycrisis” between the economy and fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Major findings include that a whopping 56% of fashion executives are bracing for an industry slowdown through 2023 amid various pressures. However, luxury sales are likely to carry the industry, expected to grow 10% over the year. The industry remains cautious on the dangers of greenwashing. {Business of Fashion}
Taylor Russell covers Dazed for Winter 2022 “Bones And All” star Taylor Russell covers Dazed in Loewe, telling Connor Garrel about her love of nature and Patti Smith in the cover story. Though portraying “a loping, heartbroken flesheater” in the film, Russell revealed her childhood dreams to leave Canada, which led her to trying ballet before acting. Dazed wrote Russell “has the warm, inviting disposition of an old friend.” {Dazed}
Scroll to Continue
Gucci opens applications for next Changemakers initiative Gucci announced applications are open for its fourth class of the North America Changemakers initiative on Giving Tuesday. These funds are intended, according to the press release, to “support talented students and non-profit organizations that amplify stories and opportunities within diverse communities inspiring solutions for a better future.” Gucci claims to have invested nearly $4.7 million in its scholarship programs to date. Applications are due on Feb. 3 and you can find more info here for scholarships and here for the impact fund. {Fashionista inbox}
Edie Parker is reaching younger shoppers with ‘Weedie Parker’ line Where the brand may be known for pricy evening clutches, there are now handbag options under the Weedie Parker line, like the $150 customizable Bodega Bag, that help expose the brand to younger consumers, founder Brett Heyman tells Glossy’s Sara Spruch-Feiner. As cannabis is increasingly decriminalized, so is fashion increasingly taking inspiration from the magical plant. {Glossy}
Homepage photo: Carlijn Jacobs/Courtesy of Dazed
Please note: Occasionally, we use affiliate links on our site. This in no way affects our editorial decision-making.
At top universities like Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, there’s a fall tradition playing out behind the scenes: students are back, and so are company recruiters looking to hire the best and the brightest.
These prize students, say New York Times investigative reporters Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe, want a place to work as prestigious as the university that they attended.
And, according to Bogdanich and Forsythe, on top of many students’ lists is McKinsey & Company, a firm, Bogdanich said, that “gives advice. And people are willing to spend a lot of money for it.”
Bogdanich told correspondent Erin Moriarty, “They don’t disclose their clients. They don’t disclose how much money they’re getting from them. We’re the first people to get inside the black box and actually find out who their clients are, and how much they were paying them.”
The authors say McKinsey has worked with nearly everyone, from Walt Disney to U.S. Steel; health care providers to tobacco companies; the State of Mississippi to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. McKinsey has even worked for CBS’ parent company in the past, Viacom.
“It’s so big and so powerful and so secret, and it influences the way we live,” Bogdanich said.
Which makes McKinsey, they say, a major force for spreading ideas globally – both good and bad.
Forsythe said, “In the ’90s and 2000s, a lot of people thought globalization just was the cat’s meow. And people were losing jobs all over America. And McKinsey was beating the drums on this. And they were even putting slides in a cigarette company’s presentation on how maybe they should think about offshoring as well: It worked for company B, why don’t you try it?”
Founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, the company has long been known as an efficiency expert.
Erik Edstrom is a West Point and Oxford grad; Garrison Lovely, a graduate of Cornell. Both worked at McKinsey.
“When you put gas in your car, McKinsey had something to do with that business,” said Edstrom. “When you go into a 7-Eleven to buy some soda, they touched that.”
Lovely said, “It’s a pretty safe bet that if you’ve heard of a company or a federal agency, that McKinsey is working for them or has worked for them.”
The two are among the dozens of current and former employees who talked to the book’s authors.
Moriarty asked, “You both signed NDAs. You’re really not supposed to be talking about this, right?”
“Well, I’m not talking about any specific clients,” said Edstrom. “In my going-away letter, in everything we have said today, I have never mentioned a client name.”
Before Lovely became disillusioned, he found the work thrilling: “As a 21-year-old, it’s hard to imagine having more of an impact on actual outcomes in the world than working at a consulting firm. Just being in the room and having a good idea and following through on it, you can actually end up having a lot of impact.
“The flip-side of that is that, if the organizations you’re supporting, the mission, is not actually doing good in the world, then those new initiatives and those new ideas can have a really bad effect.”
McKinsey sets itself apart from other consultants with a promise that recruits can change the world, and touts its work with fossil fuel companies to reduce their emissions. In a recruiting video, the company’s global managing partner Bob Sternfels says, “What if we could be the largest private sector catalyst for decarbonization in the world?”
That’s why Edstrom joined the company. But he was outraged to discover how important those same companies are to McKinsey’s bottom line.
“They serve a lot of clients with really harmful effects,” Edstrom said. “They know exactly what the repercussions are going to be, and then they say, ‘We’re gonna do it anyway.’ And that tells you all you need to know about the firm.”
Until recently, McKinsey largely avoided public scrutiny of its clients. But last year it paid a nearly $600 million settlement related to its work with opioid makers, including Purdue Pharma. McKinsey was accused of helping Purdue “turbocharge” its sales of the powerful painkiller OxyContin, after hundreds of thousands died of opioid overdoses across the country.
The disclosure of McKinsey’s work for Purdue set off alarm bells on Capitol Hill. At an April 2022 hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said, “At the same time McKinsey was providing secret advice to Purdue to boost opioid sales, the firm was also consulting for the Food and Drug Administration.”
But at a hearing earlier this year, the company’s Bob Sternfels denied any conflict of interest. He said, “McKinsey did not, did not, serve both the FDA and Purdue on opioid-related matters … Our work for the FDA focused on administrative and operational topics, including improvements to organization structure, business processes, and technology.”
California Congresswoman Katie Porter is not persuaded. Porter told Moriarty, “Streamline technology solutions, find efficiencies, operationalize – these are all mumbo-jumbo to hide the fact that McKinsey was making money off opioids at the same time they were helping the government figure out how to regulate them.”
At the April Oversight Committee hearing, Porter asked Sternfels, “If your work for FDA was so important, didn’t it have some influence on what they actually did in the world, with regard to drug manufacturers?”
“No, it didn’t, Congresswoman,” he replied.
McKinsey declined “Sunday Morning”‘s request for an on-camera interview, but in a statement to CBS News says there are strict policies in place to prevent the sharing of sensitive client information.
The firm isn’t currently working with the FDA.
Bogdanich said, “I think most Americans, when they hear that a consulting company is working for a drug company at the same time it’s working for their regulator, I think it’s just common sense that there’s a problem here.”
In their book, the authors also focus on McKinsey’s past work with Enron; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; as well as Chinese state-run companies.
Moriarty asked, “Could McKinsey take a look at this book and say, ‘You’re just cherry-picking the clients where things didn’t go quite as well,’ and that they’ve done so much good?”
Forsythe replied, “It’s more than just the bad apples. I think it’s structural. And when you have such smart, hard-working people working their hearts out for a client that’s a bad actor, that’s a real force for bad in the world.”
McKinsey, in its statement, says the book “fundamentally misrepresents our firm and our work,” and that last year the firm instituted a “new client selection policy more rigorous than any other in our industry.” It no longer represents tobacco companies. (See below.)
The negative attention, though, doesn’t seem to have had an impact on business. More than a million people applied for jobs at McKinsey last year; and the firm has collected almost a billion dollars from the federal government alone since 2006.
Bogdanich said, “Their reputation is such that a lot of people in powerful positions feel that they can’t go about their business without McKinsey at their side. And that’s why they hire ’em. That’s why they keep hiring ’em, in spite of a lot of the negative news that’s coming out about ’em. After all, they’re McKinsey.”
The following statement was provided to CBS News by McKinsey & Company:
We believe that business, when managed well and responsibly, is a force for good. Across virtually every metric, from life expectancy to income levels to educational attainment, business has spurred growth around the world, lifting more than a billion people out of poverty and driving innovations needed to confront challenges like pandemics and climate change. We have contributed to these successes through our work supporting thousands of clients each year.
A recently published book fundamentally misrepresents our firm and our work. The book also seeks to associate our firm with events—like the 2008 financial crisis, a Major League Baseball cheating scandal, or safety incidents at a theme park—that we simply had nothing to do with. Perhaps this is why the book contains more than a dozen disclaimers, across these and other issues, acknowledging that our work did not cause or was not associated with the trend or event for which the authors criticize us.
We stand by our record of helping clients accelerate sustainable and inclusive growth for their organizations and the world. In recent years, our clients contributed 20% of global GDP growth and 80% of reported reductions in CO2 emissions. We have helped clients scale up global ventilator production and deploy COVID-19 vaccines, decarbonize power generation, fund landmark investments in carbon removal technologies, and support refugees and rebuilding in Ukraine.
Despite the stereotype some have about consultants, McKinsey is typically hired to help our clients grow their businesses and expand their workforces: our clients add one million jobs per year, and we have upskilled or reskilled a million more individuals through our work and pro bono efforts. Indeed, we helped the authors’ own newspaper, The New York Times, develop the digital subscription model that has made it one of the most successful media companies.
When we have made mistakes, we acknowledged them and made changes. We apologized for our past work on opioids and were the first company to work with U.S. State Attorneys General to help communities affected by the crisis. More broadly, we have invested more than $600 million to upgrade our legal, risk, and compliance capabilities, and hired some of the world’s top experts to lead those teams. We now follow a global client selection policy more rigorous than any other in our industry.
It is telling but not surprising that in a nearly 300-page book, the authors devote few sentences to these extensive changes. Neither do they make clear to readers that virtually all the events they describe took place years and sometimes decades before our firm implemented its new client service policy and comprehensively upgraded our risk and governance teams and capabilities.
As we approach our firm’s second century, we aim to set the standard for accountability and compliance in our profession, and we welcome good-faith criticism or advice for how we can do better. We will not, however, let fear of criticism stop us from undertaking work that we believe makes a positive difference.
This means we will continue to work with clients in hard-to-abate industries like energy, shipping and agriculture, because society cannot deliver necessary carbon reductions without engaging with the industries that need to transition the most. We will keep working in the public sector, even when it brings scrutiny, because we believe our firm’s expertise helps our government clients deliver better outcomes for those who depend on them. And, because global challenges do not stop at borders—and addressing these challenges will require the best, global teams—we will continue to operate as a proudly global firm, including by responsibly serving clients in geographies where some have criticized our presence.
For nearly 100 years, our firm has worked hard to put other institutions’ success before our own. Though we are not perfect, we believe this mission is as important as ever. It is why our more than 40,000 people come to work every day to help our clients—and business at large—deliver lasting value for their shareholders, employees, customers, and communities around the world.
For more info:
Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: Ed Givnish.
Read the excerpt below, and don’t miss Erin Moriarty’s interview with Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe on “CBS Sunday Morning” October 9!
Random House
Introduction
In Gary, Indiana, just past the rusting bridges, peeling paint, and railroad switching station sits a green well-tended plot of land that seems oddly out of place. It is a grassy knoll of bushes and trees overshadowed by the drab, hulking remains of a plant run by what was once the world’s biggest, most profitable company, the U.S. Steel Corporation.
To the right, a towering furnace and smokestacks rise high against the northeastern sky. Basic steel is made there, forged in heat so intense the metal resembles white-hot lava flowing from a volcano. Nothing is soft or forgiving, only concrete, fire, and metal. To the left, rows of buildings with gabled roofs stretch to the western horizon. This is where steel is treated to make it less brittle before rolling it into massive coils for shipment to places near and far.
Occupying seven miles of lakefront, the steel plant has two hundred miles of railroad tracks, its own hospital, fire department, and police force. In years past, the company did its civic duty by sending workers with good voices and top hats to sing Christmas carols at grade schools across the city.
Inside the green oasis is a granite memorial with a book describing how 513 people died from accidents inside the steel mill. This book of the dead, covered in thick plastic and soot, tells of workers crushed by railroad cars, trucks, and steel. Others fell to their death, were torn apart by explosions, asphyxiated, burned, buried alive, and even drowned. Forty-one died by electrocution. The labor reporter Joseph S. Pete wrote that steelworker funerals are often closed-casket affairs. The book of the dead explains why.*
* Walt Bogdanich writes: “In the 1970s, I was one of twenty-seven thousand employees at U.S. Steel. My father also worked there, as did my brother and most of my relatives. Using a long metal hook, I pulled hot steel rods off a roll line, then tied the bundle with metal wires. I knew steelworking was dangerous. Just weeks after I started, a twelve-year employee in my department, Robert Plunk, died after being pinned under a red-hot bar of steel—his suffering unimaginable.”
Gary once held the promise of twentieth-century industrial America, a melting pot of racial and ethnic groups in pursuit of a better life, money for college, paid vacations, and pensions. From this emerged a solid middle class, two Nobel Prize winners, and the Jackson Five, as well as pollution that befouled the air and waterways.
In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the company’s fortunes fell sharply because of cheap foreign steel, old equipment, and suspect management. The workforce dropped below eight thousand. Departments were closed or pared down.
The decay spread to Gary, the city U.S. Steel founded more than a century ago as “a triumph of scientific planning.” By the end of the century, Gary had descended into a landscape of abandoned office buildings, stores, and churches. Rather than spend money it didn’t have to tear them down, Gary rented the locations to crews filming postapocalyptic and horror movies, including A Nightmare on Elm Street and Transformers. Even a scene from the miniseries Chernobyl was filmed there.
Crime spiked, and Gary’s population dropped to 69,000 from a high of 177,000 in 1960. Billboards along the steel mill’s southern border reflect a population that had lost its moorings. “Shackled by Lust? Jesus Sets You Free,” reads one, followed by ads for a strip club, an injury attorney, and a casino.
The year 2014, however, brought Gary’s steelworkers a glimmer of hope. The company’s new chief executive, Mario Longhi, hired an elite consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, to inject new ideas into the aging manufacturer. For decades McKinsey sold clients on its reputation as a firm that delivered scientific solutions to complex problems. Blue-chip companies and governments around the world hired its consultants, as did the CIA, the FBI, and the Pentagon, among others, believing McKinsey had the wisdom and wherewithal that their managers lacked.
McKinsey came to U.S. Steel with the goal of restoring the steelmaker to its iconic status as a company that built the nation’s bridges, buildings, and weapons that defeated America’s enemies. With McKinsey’s help, U.S. Steel promised to recapture that spirit through “a relentless focus on economic profit, our customers, cost structure, and innovation”—all without sacrificing safety or harming the environment. Gary’s labor force had little idea of what to expect from these highly paid consultants, some graduates of Ivy League business schools.
But steelworkers would learn soon enough, as did others before them, what can happen when McKinsey comes to town.
