To whom do the settlement proceeds go?
McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
281–290 of 572 posts
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#282Lets not forget this episode where McKinsey charged NYC $27 million for a flawed, nay, doctored analysis which actually caused violence to soar at Rikers. The software they delivered never worked. The sheer notion of Harvard/Princeton educated McKinsey consultants ripping off NYC for millions and putting inmates at Rikers at more risk of violence is sickening.
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-york-city-paid-mckins...
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#283Earlier 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…
> It seems more likely that it’s a politically expedient way to get cover for a decision
I have not doubt that is true in some cases. However, it might be a a bit too cynical to see it that way in all cases.
I have a developer on my team that is the most senior guy on the team. He is a grey beard on a team full of junior developers fresh out of startup code bootcamp. Sometimes he is thinking about big technical challenges and he just wants someone to talk to that can give him some feedback.
One of the things I miss about working in open offices is being able to turn around and fire ideas off of a colleague. Even if I know I am right, even if I have the ability to unilaterally make a decision, often times I just want a second opinion. I've even heard people here suggesting a paid service so you could get a short amount of principal engineer time to bounce ideas off of.
I mean, isn't that more or less what McKinsey is, except for business people? When I think of it that way ... it doesn't feel as cynical anymore. If I'm a CEO (or any level of exec) and I don't have peers that can provide me valuable second opinions and I have the budget - why not pay someone for that second opinion?
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#284One of my first jobs out of college was at small management consulting firm founded by an formerly very high level McKinsey guy. In a bigger firm, I wouldn't have had much contact with this person, but since we were tiny, he would often be out in the field with the junior people. One week I found myself with him in some faraway city. We were a bit lost (this was before smartphones) and late for our next appointment.…
While amusing, this attempts to humanize them and somewhat whitewash their abominable actions. They are sitting at the top of the power matrix making lives miserable and dangerous for the ones with least power - paycheck to paycheck workers, those with addictions, inmates in Rikers, dissidents.
The fact that they are aware of their own lack of usefulness makes the whole enterprise even more cynical and shady.
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#285I know someone who worked for McKinsey for a few years, and some of the projects he described were straight up slimy. The one I recall right now was helping a big payday lender (read: large scale loan shark) figure out how to get their money back from people who were behind on their payments. The problem was that they can only attempt to withdraw so many times from someone's bank before they're banned, so the agreed…
As a very early P2P lending participant in the early days of Prosper Lending, I've seen the other side of this.
Many borrowers adopt a mindset that they have earned the money they borrowed and don't feel that they need to pay it back.
I came in to Prosper with a distaste for the apparent predatory lender tactics and came out with an appreciation that not everything that seems predatory really is. While there are plenty of legitimately shady lending practices, reasonably high APRs and the collection tactic you described are not some of them.
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
One more piece of the puzzle: Consultants are easy to fire. Depending on the company's policies, local laws, and the internal politics of the organization, a 'real' employee may be a lot harder to get rid of. Consultants are also time/task limited (in theory), while a 'real' employee is not (again, in theory).
I think this is mixing up 'Management Consultants' vs 'Engineering Consultants/Contractors'. I'm a (supply chain) consultant which is similar and have a full time contract and full worker protections with my employer. Projects are sold on a fixed price basis, so there isn't anybody to fire - clients are buying the work output or report, not the person or set hours. Some projects are time & materials, but if the proje…
Second this. Supply Chain tech consultant with one of the big guys here.
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#287One of my first jobs out of college was at small management consulting firm founded by an formerly very high level McKinsey guy. In a bigger firm, I wouldn't have had much contact with this person, but since we were tiny, he would often be out in the field with the junior people. One week I found myself with him in some faraway city. We were a bit lost (this was before smartphones) and late for our next appointment.…
While amusing, this attempts to humanize them and somewhat whitewash their abominable actions. They are sitting at the top of the power matrix making lives miserable and dangerous for the ones with least power - paycheck to paycheck workers, those with addictions, inmates in Rikers, dissidents. The fact that they are aware of their own lack of usefulness makes the whole enterprise even more cynical and shady.
To the extent that telling you all this story was an attempt to humanize these guys and "whitewash" their behavior (it wasn't), I have some bad news for you: they're human.
It does nothing against evil to pretend that the world is composed of a small number of monsters and the rest of us good ones.
I'm the first one to agree with you: consulting - hell, fundamental aspects of capitalism itself - are deeply cynical and morally suspect, and result in a lot of unnoticed pain and death and ruin. But in my view, ignoring the fact that criminals of all types go home and kiss their children at night, and mean it, is part of what keeps us locked in the status quo.
And by the way: instead of ascribing intentions to me that you, as the reader, can't know for sure from the text alone, why not just ask me what my intentions are?
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
And don't forget: there's always a bald guy standing by to disarm the "$100 haircut" conjecture.
It would be hilarious if the grand-grand op went for “I am an 80 year old bald McK......”
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#289This statement says that 40+ US States and DC. I have seen 50 states in other articles.
Does this mean that the Feds can still go after them? The Dems are historically very friendly to the Pharma industry in ensuring outcomes in-spite of populist posturing. Can Medicare/Medicaid/VA sue them for recovery of monies spent in treating addictions and prescriptions?
Re: McKinsey to pay $573M to settle claims over opioid crisis role: source
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a discussion on the experiments by Stanley Milgram about obedience to authority, and it applies here. When a consultant gets hired for advise or to "get stuff done", and the result of this is massive profits with a secondary effect of death and destruction, then the consultant is (i.m.o.) morally responsible for that second part as well. And, it seems, legally as well (but let me guess nobody goes to jail).…
Are Instagram engineers partly responsible for depression among teens?
Not just partially, but fully. Until then, it's just an idea, and like most ideas, isn't worth much. Implementation is everything*.
*Not everything, which is a tad extreme, but certainly 95%+. But sometimes shocking statements are needed to jolt people into the reality that their work has positive/negative repercussions in the real world. We hold an arms manufacturer responsible for designing weapons of mass destruction, there's no doubt in anyone's mind that there is culpability.
Engineers who build addictive products fall into the same boat. But, but, but paycheque! is not an excuse. Has never been before, isn't now, nor will it ever be in the future. As builders, we are defined by what we build.