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).

> 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?