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As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

nytimes.com

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Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#2
As giving and receiving advice is fundamentally based on trust, it strikes me as odd why anyone wants to do business with the likes of McKinsey or Goldman Sachs who have repeatedly shown a pattern of screwing over their clients.

This is not a generic "all I-banks or management consultants are evil" - there are still plenty of specialized firms out there without these anti-patterns.

Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#3
post #2

As giving and receiving advice is fundamentally based on trust, it strikes me as odd why anyone wants to do business with the likes of McKinsey or Goldman Sachs who have repeatedly shown a pattern of screwing over their clients. This is not a generic "all I-banks or management consultants are evil" - there are still plenty of specialized firms out there without these anti-patterns.

In the case of Goldman it could be deal flow.

Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#4
post #2

As giving and receiving advice is fundamentally based on trust, it strikes me as odd why anyone wants to do business with the likes of McKinsey or Goldman Sachs who have repeatedly shown a pattern of screwing over their clients. This is not a generic "all I-banks or management consultants are evil" - there are still plenty of specialized firms out there without these anti-patterns.

Hiring these firms is a major "cover your ass" move. If you're a CEO and you hire McKinsey, your board is going to likely approve as they are from the same East Coast/West Coast Ivy League fraternity as McKinsey consultants. And because they only hire people from those schools or recruit former executives from their clients, there is a strong signaling mechanism that you're hiring "the best and the brightest."

Then if things ever go wrong, you always have the out of "I hired the best, what did you want me to do?"

Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#6
post #2

As giving and receiving advice is fundamentally based on trust, it strikes me as odd why anyone wants to do business with the likes of McKinsey or Goldman Sachs who have repeatedly shown a pattern of screwing over their clients. This is not a generic "all I-banks or management consultants are evil" - there are still plenty of specialized firms out there without these anti-patterns.

You don't get fired for hiring McKinsey. And if there's a scandal 5 or 8 or 10 years down the line where your company loses boatloads of money and McKinsey's hedge fund made money betting against you, 99% of the people involved when you hired McKinsey in the first place will have new jobs. Likely at other companies.

Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#7

A few years ago I think the classic example of an embarrassing company to have on your resume was Yahoo. Now it’s McKinsey. Yahoo source: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/technology/yahoos-in-of...

I'm completely out of the loop. Why?

Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#8

A few years ago I think the classic example of an embarrassing company to have on your resume was Yahoo. Now it’s McKinsey. Yahoo source: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/technology/yahoos-in-of...

LOL, were you saying the same thing about Goldman when the Abacus story came out?

Ugly news reports about what senior partners at a highly selective professional services company did != meaningful career repercussions for its alumni, most of whom were there as junior grinders rather than decision makers.

I'm not a McK alum but would definitely still recommend a talented young person with a job offer there to take it.

Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#9

A few years ago I think the classic example of an embarrassing company to have on your resume was Yahoo. Now it’s McKinsey. Yahoo source: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/technology/yahoos-in-of...

Yahoo?

I get that it wasn't run well but that doesn't really mean the folks working there aren't good at what they do / didn't do interesting things.

Re: As McKinsey Sells Advice, Its Hedge Fund May Have a Stake in the Outcome

#10

A few years ago I think the classic example of an embarrassing company to have on your resume was Yahoo. Now it’s McKinsey. Yahoo source: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/technology/yahoos-in-of...

I'm completely out of the loop. Why?

It's a bit preposterous, no serious professional hold this kind of prejudiced view.

Yahoo, McK, GS, FB, Uber, etc. might not hold the prestige it used to on your CV, but these things ebb and flow. Microsoft used to be "lame" but now it's cool again.

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