I just finished a stellar expose of the world’s most powerful global consulting firm with claims to be the most prestigious – McKinsey and Company. The book, When McKinsey Comes to Town, by New York Times journalists Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe, is a deeply shocking piece of work.
One of my favourite economists and truth tellers, Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz had this to say after reading it:
“Bogdanich and Forsythe show how McKinsey, rather than optimizing social welfare, optimizes corporate profits and greed. In doing so the Firm has become a super spreader of corporate misdeed and contributed to America’s growing inequality problem. Hypocrisy, avarice, ridiculous power points, aiding and abetting the world’s polluters and drug companies. Every page made my blood boil as I read about McKinsey’s flawed reasoning and the vast profits made from ethically dubious work for governments, polluting companies and big pharma.”
McKinsey received $2.2 million over nine years from the Harper administration. Under the Trudeau Liberals the amount ballooned to over $100 million.
I am really curious about how McKinsey’s managing partner, Dominic Barton, became Canada’s ambassador to China. His starting point in achieving power in Canadian politics was under Stephen Harper who appointed him to the Advisory Council on Public Service. In 2016, Bill Morneau brought him in as a key economic advisor to Canada.
Digging in, the policy directions taken by Canada on issues from the Infrastructure Bank to Immigration policy bear evidence of significant influence from the McKinsey consultants and contractors we were paying. The whole thing is troubling – to put it mildly.
One of the stunning things in the chronicles of a company responsible for recommending deep cuts in staffing in companies from Disney to Walmart to U.S. Steel – decisions that led to deaths and deepened misery, to “off-shoring” decimating the American middle class as corporate profits bloated, in all of this, McKinsey as a management consulting firm wrapped itself in the language of “values” and putting the client first. Whatever damage is done, and massive damage there is, KcKinsey never gets nailed.
The value of one consulting firm’s federal contracts has skyrocketed under the Trudeau government.
I am really curious about how McKinsey’s managing partner Dominic Barton became Canada’s ambassador to China. His starting point in achieving power in Canadian politics was under Stephen Harper who appointed him to the Advisory Council on Public Service. In 2016, Bill Morneau brought him in as a key economic advisor to Canada.
Digging in, the policy directions taken by Canada on issues from the Infrastructure Bank to Immigration policy bear evidence of significant influence from the McKinsey consultants and contractors we were paying. The whole thing is troubling – to put it mildly.
Photo: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau embraces Dominic Barton at a 2017 reception. Trudeau would appoint the former global managing partner of McKinsey and Co. as ambassador to China two years later. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)