Product Description

This is the first step-by-step manual for achieving McKinsey-style solutions and success. International bestseller "The McKinsey Way" provided a through-the-keyhole look at McKinsey & Co., history's most prestigious consulting firm. Now, the follow-up implementation manual, "The McKinsey Mind", reveals the hands-on secrets behind the powerhouse firm's success and discusses how executives from any field or industry can use those tactics to be more proactive and successful in their day-to-day decision-making. Structured around interviews and frontline anecdotes from former McKinsey consultants as well as the authors, themselves McKinsey alumni The McKinsey Mind explores how McKinsey tools and techniques can be applied to virtually any business problem in any setting.Immensely valuable in today's crisis-a-minute workplace, it discusses: techniques for framing problems and designing analyses; methods for interpreting results and presenting solutions; and, keys for managing teams, managing clients, and managing yourself. The ability to think in a rigorous, structured manner a McKinsey manner is not a birthright. It can, however, be a learned behavior. Let "The McKinsey Mind" show you how to approach and solve problems with the skill of a McKinsey consultant and obtain the positive results that have been delivered to McKinsey clients for over a century. McKinsey & Co. is renowned throughout the world for its ability to arrive at sharp, insightful analyses of its clients' situations then provide solutions that are as ingenious as they are effective.McKinsey succeeds almost as well as shielding its revolutionary methods from competitors' scrutiny. Now, "The McKinsey Mind" pulls back the curtain to reveal the ways in which McKinsey consultants consistently deliver their magic and how those methods can be used to achieve exceptional results in companies from 10 employees to 10,000. Packed with insights and brainstorming exercises for establishing the McKinsey mind-set, this book is an in-depth guidebook for applying McKinsey methods in any industry and organizational environment. Taking a step-by-step approach, "The McKinsey Mind" looks at the McKinsey mystique from every angle.Owners, executives, consultants, and team leaders can look to this comprehensive treatment for ways to: follow McKinsey's MECE (mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive) line of attack; frame business problems to make them susceptible to rigorous fact-based analysis; use the same fact-based analysis in conjunction with gut instinct to make strategic decisions; conduct meaningful interviews and effectively summarize the content of those interviews; analyze the data to find out the 'so what'; clearly communicate fact-based solutions to all pertinent decision makers; and, capture and manage the knowledge in any organization to maximize its value. Because organizational problems rarely exist in a vacuum, "The McKinsey Mind" discusses these approaches and more to help you arrive at usable and sensible solutions. It goes straight to the source former McKinsey consultants now in leadership positions in organizations throughout the world to give you today's only implementation-based, solution-driven look at the celebrated McKinsey problem-solving method."'The McKinsey Mind" provides a fascinating peek at the tools, practices, and philosophies that have helped this much-admired firm develop generations of bright young MBAs into trusted corporate advisors. But the book's practical, down-to-earth advice is not just for consultants. The disciplined way in which McKinsey consultants frame issues, analyze problems, and present solutions offers valuable lessons for any practicing or aspiring manager' - Christopher A. Bartlett, Daewoo Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School. McKinsey and Co. rescues the biggest companies from disaster by addressing every problem with its own mixture of logic-driven, hypothesis-tested analysis. "The McKinsey Mind" helps everyone learn how to think with the same discipline and devotion to creating business success. According to the maxim, giving a man a fish may feed him for a day, but teaching him to fish will feed him for a lifetime. Paying McKinsey to solve your problem may help you for a day, but learning how they do it should help you for a lifetime' - Peter Wayner, Author of "Free For All: How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut The High-Tech Titans". '"The McKinsey Mind unlocks the techniques of the world's preeminent consulting firm and presents them in a format that is easy to understand and even easier to implement' - Dan Nagy, Associate Dean, The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27024 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From the Publisher
 The McKinsey Way has sold nearly 40,000 copies since publication in March 1999  McKinsey & Co. continues to be the most secretive, respected and prestigious management consulting firm in the world: there is tremendous interest in the McKinsey Mystique  Implementing The McKinsey Way focuses on how to apply McKinsey techniques in any business situation – including Internet strategy – and relies on interviews and anecdotes from McKinsey alumni who have used these techniques successfully in new circumstances  Co-author Paul Friga, McKinsey alumni now pursuing a doctorate in Strategic Management, provides the implementation pedagogy to complement the stories and anecdotes  Book provides an interactive “template” that can be used to solve any business problem “The McKinsey Way” with specifics for every step of the process

From the Back Cover

The First Step-by-Step Manual for Achieving McKinsey-Style Solutions­­and Success

International bestseller The McKinsey Way provided a through-the-keyhole look at McKinsey & Co., history's most prestigious consulting firm. Now, the follow-up implementation manual, The McKinsey Mind, reveals the hands-on secrets behind the powerhouse firm's success­­and discusses how executives from any field or industry can use those tactics to be more proactive and successful in their day-to-day decision-making.

Structured around interviews and frontline anecdotes from former McKinsey consultants­­as well as the authors, themselves McKinsey alumni­­The McKinsey Mind explores how McKinsey tools and techniques can be applied to virtually any business problem in any setting. Immensely valuable in today's crisis-a-minute workplace, it discusses:

• Techniques for framing problems and designing analyses
• Methods for interpreting results and presenting solutions
• Keys for managing teams, managing clients, and managing yourself

The ability to think in a rigorous, structured manner­­a McKinsey manner­­is not a birthright. It can, however, be a learned behavior. Let The McKinsey Mind show you how to approach and solve problems with the skill of a McKinsey consultant and obtain the positive results that have been delivered to McKinsey clients for over a century.

McKinsey & Co. is renowned throughout the world for its ability to arrive at sharp, insightful analyses of its clients' situations then provide solutions that are as ingenious as they are effective. McKinsey succeeds almost as well as shielding its revolutionary methods from competitors' scrutiny.

Now, The McKinsey Mind pulls back the curtain to reveal the ways in which McKinsey consultants consistently deliver their magic and how those methods can be used to achieve exceptional results in companies from 10 employees to 10,000. Packed with insights and brainstorming exercises for establishing the McKinsey mind-set, this book is an in-depth guidebook for applying McKinsey methods in any industry and organizational environment.

Taking a step-by-step approach, The McKinsey Mind looks at the McKinsey mystique from every angle. Owners, executives, consultants, and team leaders can look to this comprehensive treatment for ways to:

• Follow McKinsey's MECE (mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive) line of attack
• Frame business problems to make them susceptible to rigorous fact-based analysis
• Use the same fact-based analysis­­in conjunction with gut instinct­­to make strategic decisions
• Conduct meaningful interviews and effectively summarize the content of those interviews
• Analyze the data to find out the "so what"
• Clearly communicate fact-based solutions to all pertinent decision makers
• Capture and manage the knowledge in any organization to maximize its value

Because organizational problems rarely exist in a vacuum, The McKinsey Mind discusses these approaches and more to help you arrive at usable and sensible solutions. It goes straight to the source­­former McKinsey consultants now in leadership positions in organizations throughout the world­­to give you today's only implementation-based, solution-driven look at the celebrated McKinsey problem-solving method.

"The McKinsey Mind provides a fascinating peek at the tools, practices, and philosophies that have helped this much-admired firm develop generations of bright young MBAs into trusted corporate advisors. But the book's practical, down-to-earth advice is not just for consultants. The disciplined way in which McKinsey consultants frame issues, analyze problems, and present solutions offers valuable lessons for any practicing or aspiring manager."
­­Christopher A. Bartlett, Daewoo Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

"McKinsey and Co. rescues the biggest companies from disaster by addressing every problem with its own mixture of logic-driven, hypothesis-tested analysis. The McKinsey Mind helps everyone learn how to think with the same discipline and devotion to creating business success. According to the maxim, giving a man a fish may feed him for a day, but teaching him to fish will feed him for a lifetime. Paying McKinsey to solve your problem may help you for a day, but learning how they do it should help you for a lifetime."
­­Peter Wayner, Author of Free For All: How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut The High-Tech Titans

"The McKinsey Mind unlocks the techniques of the world's preeminent consulting firm and presents them in a format that is easy to understand and even easier to implement."
­­Dan Nagy, Associate Dean, The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University

About the Author

Ethan M. Rasiel was a consultant in McKinsey & Co.'s New York office. His clients included major companies in finance, telecommunications, computing, and consumer goods sectors. Prior to joining McKinsey, Rasiel, who earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, was an equity fund manager at Mercury Asset Management in London, as well as an investment banker.

Paul N. Friga worked for McKinsey & Co. in the Pittsburgh office after receiving his MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. He has conducted consulting projects relating to international expansion, acquisition and strategic planning, education, water, and other industries. He has also consulted for Price Waterhouse. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Strategy at Kenan-Flagler and is Acting Director of the North Carolina Knowledge Management Center.

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Customer Reviews

OK - ish
Having worked with mcKinsey, and, frankly, been pretty impressed, I expected greater things from this book. However, I was disappointed. The opening chapters offer a great deal of promise, and the later chapter on interviewing was interesting, but overall, this book represents McKinsey very well. 95% commonsense, with a dash of jargon.

And frankly, the sometimes arrogant tone of the book is annoying. One is left with the feeling that Mckinsey-ites (as it appears they like to be known) have huge egos - which makes them present commonsense as outstanding commercial awareness, allied with problem-solving wizardry.

In short, an interesting read - but don't expect inspirational solutions, or winning strategies

A good book on problem solving
The McKinsey Mind is a description of McKinsey's problem solving process by ex-McKinsey-ites Raisel and Friga. Mr. Raisel is the author of the earlier published McKinsey Way, which has much the same content as McKinsey Mind. Nevertheless, McKinsey Mind includes new interesting content and certainly is a good book on problem solving processes.

I have myself some background in the area of problem solving, which I have researched and taught at my former university as well as applied the knowledge in case competitions and in my day-to-day work. While problem solving is ultimately a fuzzy process where logic, intuition and creativity is combined, in order to be effective with time constraints and in team settings it is essential to have a formal problem solving process. McKinsey Mind teaches that a so-called hypothesis driven approach is the most effective problem solving process and I totally agree with that assessment based on my own experiences. Students that learn to apply proper hypothesis-driven problem solving approaches in business case exercises (where time is limited) produce much better results than students who "just solve it".

The book has a broad view on the problem solving process and includes also chapters on presentation and managing stakeholders: team, client and yourself. The actual problem solving process is divided into framing the problem (understanding it and identifying a hypothesis), designing the analysis, gathering the data, and interpreting the results. In the end of the book are some helpful appendices, including a list of potential data sources on the internet and summaries of the book's main points.

The McKinsey Mind expands on The McKinsey Way chiefly by presenting a survey on McKinsey alumnus' experiences and a number of subsequent interviews. This material provides insights and stories on how the McKinsey skills have been applied in post-McKinsey carriers. Each chapter is divided into a general overview, a description of the "McKinsey way", lessons learned and illustrations (based on the survey), implementation guidance, exercises and a conclusion.

This could have been a five star book, but unfortunately McKinsey Mind is not particularly well written (though I have seen much worse written books as well). I got the impression that the authors have applied their own 80/20-rule: doing the most important 20% of the tasks to get 80% of the result. There is some repetition in the text within the same chapter, the authors' example on Acme Widgets isn't well thought in my opinion, and so forth. The book is also a quick read with its 186 pages (excluding appendices) and quite little text on a single page. A 95/50-effort would have been appreciated.

Yet, the topic is an important one and the content contains best practices from one of the world's foremost practitioner. But one has to remember that it is not enough to read a book to learn how to solve problems effectively: only experience can eventually teach you that. This book is just a good map for the journey.

Interesting..
As you would expect from McKinsey-ites, the book proposes good principles & methods for structured problem solving, but let down by the arrogant and condescending way it was written. The section on interpersonal skills is obviously not the authors strong point.
The best part was infact the last section -Managing yourself - which concludes that justice, truth and harmony is the end result of the techinques illustrated in the book.
I would have liked to see more content on creativity in the problem solving process but appart from that a jolly good read.