Have McKinsey and its consulting rivals got too big?

Current McKinsey here. I don’t think anyone expects the current difficulties to last indefinitely. Its fairly well established that consulting struggles during times of economic uncertainty (but does fine when things are outright bad or good).

Would there be any advantage for anyone to state they feel the opposite to your view publicly? Seems like a career limiting move.

Depends how private the account they're posting the opinion on is!

If all comments here were eyed with the same cynicism, we'd have no genuine discussions. And maybe we don't.

> Its fairly well established that consulting struggles during times of economic uncertainty

Only the bullshit kind of consulting McKinsey is known for, IMO. The value of someone coming in and repeating what the smart folks on the team are saying is no longer there. Plenty of boutique consulting shops are eating just fine right now. Delivering real results/solutions and being a SME is always in demand.

I don't think the people behind the opioid crisis should be trusted to be speaking in good faith.

I mean we’re not allowed to say anything either way

I don’t do that kind of thing but for what it’s worth The value of coming in and listening to what smart people are saying and then telling the C Suite to actually do it is hugely valuable when the organization is otherwise paralyzed by bureaucracy.

For sure! Just a real frustrating aspect of change in enterprise.

I have worked in specialist consulting for 10 years and I agree with this take. Our business does the best during times of uncertainty. During lean times, operators want to make sure they are allocating capital intelligently, so they pay for our insights and advice. In the good times, they just plow all their revenue into making the flywheel spin faster, no need to be cautious or thoughtful when money is coming in no matter what you do.

> Its fairly well established that consulting struggles during times of economic uncertainty (but does fine when things are outright bad or good).

The culture engendered into corporate America by businesses like McKinsey is exactly what causes economic uncertainty.

When the only thing that matters is the number at the bottom of the piece of paper being big enough for some analyst in lower Manhattan to be happy, humans will do all sorts of unpredictable things to make that number be that way.

I thought for sure it was war in Europe, bubbles burst in Chinese real estate, and a general fracturing in the west vs the rest globalization but ok

And we've faced more headwinds than that before.

The difference is, before, people had at least some confidence in their ability to make a living. We've whittled down the average person's wages and job security to the bone and when people don't feel secure, they don't spend, or maybe they do, but they put it on the card... which is another problem and story unto itself. And places like McKinsey are a part of the knife that did that whittling.

Anyways, when people don't spend, businesses don't do better over the long term.

What data are you looking at that shows decreasing wages and spending?

Stagnant wages in high inflation is the same as decreasing wages

I don't think people who are so bitter about not being in a position of power that they will say any hyperbolic thing they can about McKinsey should be trusted on the topic either

Show me that data.

Here’s the opposite perspective:

Real disposable income is up: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A229RX0 Real median personal income is up: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEPAINUSA672N

We’ve faced more headwinds… and experienced vast worse economic conditions too.

The current situation is one of uncertainty that things may get worse. It’s not even a recession.