Product Description

Both a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most admired and secretive companies in the business world and a toolkit of problem-solving techniques without peer, THE MCKINSEY WAY is fascinating reading that empowers every business decision maker to become a better strategic player in any organization.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22239 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 187 pages

Amazon.com
The McKinsey Way, by former McKinsey & Company associate Ethan M. Rasiel, provides a through-the-keyhole perspective on the way this worldwide consulting institution approaches--and solves--the myriad professional problems encountered by its high-powered clientele. His goal, Rasiel writes, is simple: to communicate "new and useful skills to everyone who wants to be more useful in their business." He then does so by explaining the highly structured, fact-based proprietary methodology that McKinseyites are taught to employ with their Fortune 100 clients, complete with details on the entire process from first considering the basic situation at hand through finally selling a solution to the appropriate powers that be.

All of the critical steps (assembling a team, managing a hierarchy, doing research, conducting interviews, brainstorming) are broken down into specific actions and fleshed out with applicable examples that Rasiel has gathered through interviews with dozens of other former McKinsey employees. The concluding sections on surviving the mythically grueling pace at the organization, known simply to insiders as "the Firm," are designed to help readers successfully tackle the similar challenges and obstacles they regularly face in their own work environments. --Howard Rothman

From the Author
Put McKinsey's Secrets to Work for You
Many books purport to teach the reader about management consulting. With "The McKinsey Way" I try to do something different; after all, not everyone wants to be a management consultant. I want to share with you the strategies and techniques that McKinsey & Company, arguably the world's most successful and influential management consultancy, teaches its people. These are lessons that I and my colleagues learned – sometimes the hard way – during our time at McKinsey, or, as it is known to its employees, "The Firm". For these lessons to be useful to you, I try to make them both accessible and applicable to your business life.

"The McKinsey Way" will show you how to apply the three pillars of the McKinsey problem solving process. You will learn the three keys to effective messaging; which three things you should always take with you when travelling on business; and why everything at the Firm comes in groups of three.

In the business world, the Firm is respected and sometimes even feared. As any McKinsey-ite can tell you, everybody knows somebody who was fired because of McKinsey. "The McKinsey Way" sheds a little light on the inner workings of this powerful, respected, but ultimately secretive organization. The book also describes what it is like to work for McKinsey and how to survive in a company that demands total commitment from its people. If you really do want to become a management consultant, you will even learn how to make it through the recruiting process at the Firm.

I believe "The McKinsey Way" offers a lot of new and useful information, as well as an interesting and fun read. I hope when you read it you will feel the same.

From the Back Cover

Penetrate the McKinsey mystique and learn the secrets of the world's most sought after consulting firm.

Praise for The McKinsey Way:

"If more business books were as useful, concise, and just plain fun to read as The McKinsey Way, the business world would be a better place."­­Julie Bick, Best-selling author of All I Really Need to Know in Business I Learned at Microsoft

"Enlivened by witty anecdotes, The McKinsey Way contains valuable lessons on widely diverse topics such as marketing, interviewing, team-building, and brain-storming."­­Paul H. Zipkin, Vice-Dean, The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University

"Apt to become the reference book on business management. With the help of The McKinsey Way, managers can approach issues they face as if they had a McKinsey expert beside them. It will certainly help those of use who cannot afford McKinsey!"­­Mord Weisler, Chairman, PRI Automation, Inc

"The closest thing to getting three years of consulting experience in three hours."­­John Alsop, President, Progress Software

"The McKinsey Way describes a course of analysis that is very powerful, well-written, and effective."­­Peter A. Brooke, Chairman, Advent International

---

Customer Reviews

Short, clear introduction into management consultancy
McKinsey & Company is a world-famous strategic consulting company, also known as "The Firm". Ethan Rasiel worked at McKinsey & Co. for several years and provides a quick, clear introduction into management consulting firm's problem solving methods. "I wrote this book with the goal of communicating new and useful skills to everyone who wants to be more efficient and effective in business. ... In addition, this book will give any executive woho works with management consultants, whether McKinsey or elsewhere, some insight into how these strange beings think."

The book is split up into five parts. In Part I, Ethan Rasiel explains the McKinsey-way of thinking about business problems. The author explains that the solution of the problem needs to be fact-based (facts are friendly), rigidly structured (MECE = mutually exclusive), and hypothesis-driven (solve the problem at the first meeting - the initial hypothesis). In addition, the author explains how McKinsey-ites approach business problems and apply the McKinsey problem-solving process to maximum effect. There is also a short introduction into a number of rules which McKinsey-consultants use for problem-solving purposes: the 80/20-rule, find the key drivers, the elevator test - sell in 30 seconds, make a chart every day, look at the big picture, say "I don't know", and don't accept "I have no idea".

In Part II, the author introduces the McKinsey-way of working to solve business problems. The author explains the selling process at McKinsey (the Firm does not sell, it markets), how to structure an engagement, and assembling of a team. Then the author comes to the most important part of the book, doing research, conducting interviews (the author insists on reading Chapter 8 - Conducting Interviews - "If you read no other chapter of the book from start to finish, read this one."), and brainstorming.

In Part III, the author, and the McKinsey-way of selling solutions. This part discusses the way McKinsey makes presentations, which is one of the strongest parts of McKinsey according to the author, displays data with charts (read Gene Zelazny (1985), 'Say it with Charts'), and the way to work with clients.

In Part IV, Rasiel gives some lessons how "McKinsey-ites" have learned for coping with the stresses of life at the Firm, and in Part V, the author recounts the lessons he learned at McKinsey and shares memories of various ex-McKinsey-ites. Both Part IV and V are 'a waste of paper' in comparison to the first three parts, but gives a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes at McKinsey & Co.

Yes, I can understand that some readers are disappointed by this book as it gives just an introduction into management consultancy (and McKinsey & Co). The author introduces the various problem-solving methods and tools, but does not discuss them in great detail. For more details on these methods and tools you will have to read some other literature. The book uses simple US-English.

Just awful
If I could have given it a zero, I would have. I've worked for McKinsey for the past twelve years, and I was stunned at the lack of insight in this book. Even the few observations the author got right are out of date, as the Firm has changed quite a bit in the past few years and this author left McKinsey quite a while ago. I can't imagine how he ever sold this one to a publisher. Vaporware.

This book is what McKinsey is about...
This book is unintentionally a clear representation of these "elite" consulting firms:
- Too expensive for what it is
- Nice cover and picture ... but big letters and no content (have a read of the "Surviving at McKinsey" chapter for a good laugh)
- Inflated ego (eg: "McKinsey is to management as Cartier is to jewels...")

If any young MBA's hope to find a few hints to enter the "ivory tower", don't look here.

In conclusion, please find my "strategic recommendation" about this book: don't buy it. This advise is worth a few dollars.