I’ve written about McKinsey in the past.
From the talk I did at their conference where I took the piss out of the, through to the infamous tweet I sent about that incident through to my begrudged respect that they are able to charge so much money for things they will never get their hands dirty in executing.
And while I am fully aware that they have some incredibly smart people in their organisation, the organisations ruthlessness towards capitalism highlights they have almost zero moral compass.
Oh they talk about their values.
They go on about their commitment to purpose and integrity.
But the more and more I did into the organisation, the more I find codes of conduct that should be regarded as criminal rather than respectful.
I’m currently reading Empire Of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe about the opioid crisis – specifically OxyContin – created, aggressively marketed and exploited by the Sackler family.
It makes for horrific reading.
The way the family lied, denied and did all they could to separate themselves from the horror they created – blaming the victims and inventing terminology ‘pseudo-addiction’ to separate themselves from blame.
And what’s this got to do with McKinsey?
This.
McKinsey … the value driven, purpose driven company of integrity.
More like, the money driven, moral free, promoters of human misery.
I appreciate many people value what they do.
I appreciate they have done good things for companies in the past.
But if an organisation is OK with putting forward a proposal that basically ‘buys’ companies to continue selling a product that is killing hundreds of thousands of people [current estimate is 500,000 in the US alone with many more addicted] then at what point do companies start to realise that eventually customers will start questioning them.
We all make mistakes.
We all have put forward ideas that stretch boundaries.
But I don’t know anyone who has suggested – let alone put in a proposal – that allows people to die so a client can make more money.
And they say adland has problems …