Ethan M. Rasiel

A superficial overview of a superficial process. This is a kind of dated overview of the 1990s McKinsey management consultant, still used by big dumb companies to some extent. There's a bit of obfuscation through special terminology (MECE: Mutually-Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive, etc.), but really it boils down to "find smart people with limited experience, have them express their thoughts in falsifiable ways (as hypotheses in a scientific sense), then gather data to confirm or falsify show more those hypotheses." Also the "inductive" presentation format where you present conclusions first, then data and theories, and where you pre-sell ("pre-wire") the conclusions individually with stakeholders before the meeting itself. Lots of unwritten stuff which doesn't apply outside of McKinsey (use the brand to sell a 22yo as an expert, the value of an outsider to justify an already-obvious-to-insiders course of action to risk averse politicians within an organization). show less

Lots of interesting basics, especially if you want to go from a large corporate (or academic) to "consulting" mindset.

It's a bit dated now, especially with a not-so-subtle "workaholism as a point of pride" vibe, so it requires a bit of reading around that to get the most out of it. (There's a chapter on avoiding over-working, but it's like 'plan an occasional weekend where you don't work both days').

As others have mentioned, the whole book is a bit of what we'd now call 'content marketing' show more material for the company, and a reader from our time can easily discern that, but it was less obvious when it was written.

It also includes lots of ideas (like an 'elevator pitch') that have become standard ideas and practices, but weaves them all together in a fairly natural flow and overall gives a good glimpse into the thinking shift a person should undergo if they want to get started in the consulting world. show less

An interesting insight to McKinsey's approach. I got most out of the chapters at the beginning; being Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) when listing issues making up the problem to be solved and a hypothesis based approach. The majority of the rest of the book I found useful information more rare.

McKinsey. Это имя - знак качества в сфере консалтинга: всем известно, как сотрудники Фирмы блестяще решают чужие бизнес-проблемы. А можете ли вы сами справиться с трудностями в своей организации, применяя их секреты? Или нужно обязательно приглашать команду из McKinsey?
Опросив show more несколько сотен своих экс-коллег (бывших сотрудников Фирмы), успешно применяющих теперь ее техники в других организациях, авторы пришли к выводу, что многое можно осилить самостоятельно. В этой книге они предлагают инструменты McKinsey, овладев которыми вы почувствуете себя "немного маккинзиевцем" и принесете большую пользу своей компании.

Рекомендуется к прочтению бизнес-консультантам, руководителям и менеджерам, которым приходится решать проблемы и реализовывать решения на практике. show less