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McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

reuters.com

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Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#111

Post by klmadfejno »

pm90 wrote: post #70
klmadfejno wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a 20 something McK consultant with a $10 haircut. Maybe $20 with tip. Or $0 now, because it's done at home. I post this fairly frequently, but here we go again. Business is hard. Change is hard. Consultants get a lot of shit for saying things that someone lower in the org could have told them. That's not evidence of abuse, that's evidence that your org isn't working well. A lot of the time substantial portions of…

> Opiod work was bad though, let's not avoid that. Sorry that’s all you have to say about your employer quite literally supercharging the opioids pandemic causing unimaginable pain and destruction across America? “It was bad though.” Let me tell you some hard truths. If you’re 20 something you don’t know Jack shit about running a business and the only reason you’re there is because the C Suite wants to “de-risk” thei…

Whatever superlative you want to throw on "bad", go ahead. It was very bad, I just wanted to throw that onto the end of what was otherwise an unrelated point.

There's no expectation that I know how to "run a business". That's not how it works.

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#112

Post by asjldkfin »

tyingq wrote: post #80
asjldkfin wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except there is, a negotiation is based on the next best alternative; which is the legal system. Mcks wouldn’t have settled for that much if they thought they’d fare better in court.

They didn't want it in court because it would have made a documented legal precedent around liability. "One former partner called the settlement hugely significant because it shatters the distance that McKinsey — which argues that it only makes recommendations — puts between its advice and its clients’ actions. For decades, the firm has avoided legal liability for high-profile failures of some clients, including the…

1. I think that’s making a guess into their intentions which we’re not qualified to do

2. Even if we take #1 for granted, the $500MM figure is still based on something. The counter-party could’ve settled for $100MM or insisted on $1B but they reached that number for a reason.

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#113

Post by samizdis »

andreilys wrote: post #58
klmadfejno wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a 20 something McK consultant with a $10 haircut. Maybe $20 with tip. Or $0 now, because it's done at home. I post this fairly frequently, but here we go again. Business is hard. Change is hard. Consultants get a lot of shit for saying things that someone lower in the org could have told them. That's not evidence of abuse, that's evidence that your org isn't working well. A lot of the time substantial portions of…

”Bringing in consultants is, among other ways, a way to bring in people who can get shit done, moving bricks at lower levels of the org with the political mandate of the top” It seems more likely that it’s a politically expedient way to get cover for a decision (in other words CYA insurance). If the plan fails, blame the consultants. If it works, take credit for having brought them in. It also puts more pressure on e…

Some of the main "controversies" re McKinsey are outlined in its Wikipedia entry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#Controver...

In the interest of balance, here is what McKinsey has to say about social responsibility in its "about us" section of its corporate website: Our purpose as a firm is to help create positive, enduring change in the world.

https://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/social-responsibility

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#114

Post by BitwiseFool »

When company management wants to make a big change they hire consultants to provide cover and justification for it. The consultants role is to agree to and implement whatever the management's desired change is. The consultants exist to provide an air of authority behind the decision and to act as a smokescreen to the employees facing the change. If the plan succeeds, upper management takes the credit. If it fails, the burden can be shifted onto the consultants.

Companies like McKinsey will say whatever you want them to say, and there is no shortage of conflicting case studies to 'prove' their points.

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#116

Post by tclancy »

klmadfejno wrote: post #75
tclancy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with this is we don't (and one presumes you don't either) know whether you're above or below average. My perspective, from running into people from Big Computer consultancies back in the '00s was that the business model was to hire recent college grads, pump them up with the sheen of the company brand and then let them learn on the job at smaller companies and "failing upward" until they are experienced e…

I'm not sure what a big computer consultancy is. Is that like IBM? Accenture? I don't think where I fall in the ranks matters much here. Loaned out doesn't feel applicable here though. There are some consultancies that are primarily just staff augmentation. Like, here are some expensive workers for you to use for a while. That's not really what McK does. McK is doubtlessly very expensive. "pumping people up on the jo…

Yes, IBM, Oracle, Accenture

>"pumping people up on the job" sounds like a bad faith way to describe training and investing in your employees.

That's just it: the customers are investing in your employees by letting them learn on their job but never reap the benefit of the experience. It's not a long-term recipe for success.

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#117

Post by ErikVandeWater »

asjldkfin wrote: post #15

It's funny reading comment here saying how "Consulting is useless BS" whilst also condemning them for "turbocharging Opioid sales"

Personally I don't know too much about this case. But courts can find corporations liable, even if they did a terrible job. It's the same logic as putting the getaway driver in jail for attempted robbery, even if they dropped the clutch and stalled the car. McKinsey could have done a terrible job but also been liable according to courts (who probably just assume white-shoe consultants did a good job anyway).

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#118

Post by dia80 »

The opinions on consultants in the thread is largely negative and it's suggested hiring them is a sign of organisational dysfunction. If you can find information on consulting spend in annual reports you could create a "consultant factor" for stocks and see if big spenders underperform.

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#119

Post by Terretta »

tclancy wrote: post #116
klmadfejno wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what a big computer consultancy is. Is that like IBM? Accenture? I don't think where I fall in the ranks matters much here. Loaned out doesn't feel applicable here though. There are some consultancies that are primarily just staff augmentation. Like, here are some expensive workers for you to use for a while. That's not really what McK does. McK is doubtlessly very expensive. "pumping people up on the jo…

Yes, IBM, Oracle, Accenture >"pumping people up on the job" sounds like a bad faith way to describe training and investing in your employees. That's just it: the customers are investing in your employees by letting them learn on their job but never reap the benefit of the experience. It's not a long-term recipe for success.

That said, an ex-McKinsey consultant often ends up getting selected by one of those companies as its CEO.

There’s tremendous value in the repeated problem exposures the consultant received, combined with the rigorous framework thinking.

Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source

#120

Post by klmadfejno »

jancsika wrote: post #106
klmadfejno wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a 20 something McK consultant with a $10 haircut. Maybe $20 with tip. Or $0 now, because it's done at home. I post this fairly frequently, but here we go again. Business is hard. Change is hard. Consultants get a lot of shit for saying things that someone lower in the org could have told them. That's not evidence of abuse, that's evidence that your org isn't working well. A lot of the time substantial portions of…

Whether this is a bona fide comment or a troll, I love this comment: * quick witted aikido-move-of-a-sentence to accept OP's insult, thereby disarming it * enormous paragraph made up of short, frank, vague sentences with an compelling rhythm of overarching claims that frame the 20-something haircut's ostensible work in a positive light. It's the wrong generation but I'm reading them in Ari Fleischer's no-nonsense, et…

I guess I'm glad you enjoyed my prose so much.

All I'm trying to convey is that my day to day is listening to client problems, looking at data, talking to employees, and presenting findings. It's neither a conspiracy, nor a scheme, nor a world of wealthy indulgence. I make a healthy wage, but its likely lower than I could get in tech. Like almost every company in the world, its a normal company.

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