The Mc Kinsey Way

Contributed by Vivek Pandey.

The McKinsey Way is a book written by Ethan M. Rasiel who worked at the company, McKinsey &

Company, from 1989 to 1992. The book is about the techniques that are used at the world’s top

strategic consulting firm and how one can learn and implement these techniques at one’s business

or workplace.

The book is well crafted, divided into different parts, to offer the reader an insight into the minds

and work-culture of McKinsey-ites.

He starts by giving brief idea of how McKinsey looks at and then thinks about a business problem.

While doing this, he also gives emphasis to the 80-20 rule and encourages readers to look for those

20s that are causing the 80s. He also gives a lot of tips to live by.

‘The Elevator Test’ is one of the most precise and worthy tests, according to the author, to be carried

out by anyone before a presentation to a client about the solution that one proposes for the client’s

business problem. According to it, one’s solution to a business problem should have a version which

one can tell anyone in less than 30 seconds, while going to the ground floor in an elevator.

He also explains why a problem is not always the actual problem. It may just be a manifestation of

the side effects of a bigger and unknown problem. So as a strategic consultant one must always look

for the actual problem, even though the client may have no idea about the actual problem.

The author also gives s a lot of emphasis to interviewing, brainstorming and ‘pre-wiring of

presentations’. He also offers a lot of techniques to make things highly effective.

Interviewing, he explains, is one of the most important parts. A consultant, always, is in need of

information that can be useful to him in solving the problem. It’s important to make the interviewee

comfortable and, as he says, not to ‘strip him/her naked’. Paraphrasing is always very useful, as is

asking open-ended questions.

At McKinsey, which is a knowledge based company, brainstorming is of paramount importance.

For brainstorming sessions, he writes, one should always come without any predispositions but

not without doing one’s research about the problem issue. Even the one on the lowest rung of the

hierarchy can come up with the most valuable opinion or idea.

The author also gives a lot of importance to ‘not throwing any surprises at others’. For that, it’s

important that before a client presentation, one must visit the concerned quarters of the client that

matter and brief them about the solution. This makes sure that the presentation remains as just a

formal performance and that the concerned people on the client side are in sync with the solution.

McKinsey is one of the world’s most revered, sought after and successful strategic consulting

firms. ‘The McKinsey Way’ is a sneak peek into the closely guarded techniques of this iconic

company, that one can use not only in the job of a consultant but also in any of the problems one

faces in one’s business.