22: McKinsey's True Impact

Just about every potential candidate we screen talks about the impact management consulting has on major corporations and governments around the world. Indeed, that remains an alluring reason to join BBM. In this podcast, I wanted to discuss the true impact of management consulting, by reflecting on one of my own projects, and discussing the real power and responsibility of management consulting. This will help you understand why cases are so tough. When thinking about the role and impact of management consultants, you must always remember the law of scarcity. There is never ever enough investment and jobs to go around. Therefore, when we advise on a plant being built in Poland versus Romania or entering Brazil today and Indonesia later, there will be winning families and losing families. There is no way around it. In the short term, someone will suffer. Your job is to make sure the client benefits no matter the emotional fallout. And there is always emotional impact. It cannot be avoided, though junior consultants are almost always shielded from it.