When McKinsey Comes to Town

Brought to you by Penguin. An explosive exposé of the world's most prestigious and successful management consultancy ____ 'Panoramic, meticulously reported and ultimately devastating' Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain 'Every page made my blood boil' Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate, author of The Price of Inequality ____ 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 incentivising the prescription of opioids; ruthless cost-cutting in the NHS; 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, tobacco and vaping industries, as well as some of the world's most unsavoury despots. And for the last six decades, McKinsey has been the brains behind many of the most loathed and controversial business practices: mass lay-offs, outsourcing overseas, soaring executive pay, as well as the key innovations that led to the financial crash. 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. © Walt Bogdanich & Michael Forsythe 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022 Their work has helped destabilize the global economy and divided society, and has been at the heart of some of the worst corporate scandals in history: from Enron to the Opioid Crisis. Bognadich and Forsythe have managed to penetrate the veil of secrecy McKinsey by conducting hundreds of interviews, obtaining tens of thousands of revelatory documents, and following rule #1 of investigative reporting: Follow the money. WHEN MCKINSEY COMES TO TOWN is a landmark work of investigative reporting that amounts to a devastating portrait of a firm whose work has made the world more unequal, more corrupt, and more dangerous. A gripping narrative of secrecy, greed and corruption, this is the story of where and how business went wrong in the modern era. © Walt Bogdanich & Michael Forsythe 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022