Simon Frankau's book reviews

The McKinsey Way - Ethan M. Rasiel

Part of another Oxfam haul, this time with management bent. After all, I'm supposed to manage people, and don't know an awful lot about it.

McKinsey are a top management consultancy outfit. Even if you view mgmt consultancy as con artistry, they're top in the game, so perhaps they have some good ideas on how to get people to listen to you. The book contains nothing revolutionary, although it's quite interesting and readable in a mental chewing-gum kind of way. In summary, what I learnt was:

They recuit the brightest and the best to think long and hard (with huge billable hours costs) in a structured and rigorous way, testing hypotheses.
They present their results to the client in easy-to-read format, generally using 3 bullet point lists.
They promote the Firm continuously, e.g. by writing selling books mentioning themselves.

Posted 2011-03-12.

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