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The McKinsey Mind: Understanding and Implementing the Problem Solving Tools and Management Techniques of the World's Top Strategic Consulting Firm
Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga McGraw-Hill, New York www.hook.mcgraw-hill.com Authors' Credentials: Former McKinsey associate and author of The McKinsey Way; former McKinsey associate, now acting director of the North Carolina Knowledge Management Center.
Thesis: How to apply the McKinsey techniques to your career/organization.
Scope: 1000 AD (King Arthur) to 2001.
File Under: A crib sheet on McKinsey tools and practices.
Reason to Buy/Read: Just the name McKinsey in the title probably creates a visceral reaction in business people at a certain level. Those who ignore the gut in favor of pragmatism will read the book to get a look into the McKinsey tool kit. The ultimate value will be determined not by the McKinsey method but by whether readers can apply it to their own business problems.
Less charitable reasons to read the book include hunting for reasons to disparage the methods or the company's use of freshly minted MBAs to solve problems. Two things in particular will fuel I-told-you-so's. After insisting that the McKinsey methods are customized for each client, the authors undercut this assertion by talking about the systematic checklists used on each assignment and the database of "sanitized" results where consultants hunt for problems of a similar nature. And cynics also will love the passage where the authors discuss how the consultant generates an "initial hypothesis...