Book Review

Of
THE McKINSEY WAY

As Partial Fulfilment of Managing Organisation (OBH002)

at IIM Visakhapatnam

Submitted by:
Group-2
Adhish Bhandari (1810005)
Joseph Thomas Kurisunkal (1810025)
Rohit Kumar Rastogi (1810040)
Sayali Batle (1810045)
Sudhansu Sekhar Nahak (1810048)

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Book in Nutshell --------------------------------------------------------------------------------3

The McKinsey Way of Thinking About Business Problems ---------------------------------------3

The McKinsey Way of working to solve Business Problems-----------------------------------------4

The McKinsey Way of Selling Solutions--------------------------------------------------------------5

Surviving At McKinsey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

Life After McKinsey-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

2. About McKinsey & Co. (Reader’s Analysis) ---------------------------------------------7

Organization Structure of McKinsey--------------------------------------------------------------------7

Organization Culture at McKinsey----------------------------------------------------------------------7

Core Job Characteristics at McKinsey-----------------------------------------------------------------8

3. Learning And Takeaways--------------------------------------------------------------------9

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 BOOK IN NUTSHELL
Mckinsey is to management as Rolex is to watches. There is no consulting firm as popular,
preferred and well-guarded as Mckinsey & Company. This remarkable strategic organization
has trained many of the world’s greatest business leaders and management thinkers.

The book titled “The McKinsey Way” reveals McKinsey’s highly guarded management tools
and techniques that will help anyone to think like McKinsey consultants. The author of the
book and also the former McKinsey analyst Ethan M. Rasiel reflects the powerful ways to
solve and approach the most difficult and uncontrollable business problems and the methods
which can also be replicated in any other organization.

Drawing on his personal experiences at McKinsey as well as through extensive interviews with
current and former McKinsey-its, Ethan Rasiel takes you through an “engagement” (i.e., a
project called in McKinsey language) to represent how you can gain from McKinsey’s
unrelenting analytical management techniques on a day to day basis. The book reveals some
inside secrets as you enter the world of McKinsey.

The author has divided the book into 5 segments. Parts One through Three are the “meat” of
the book which explains about how McKinsey-its think about the business problems and how
they work at solving them. Part Four gives some tricks and techniques to survive not just in
McKinsey, but in any high-pressure organization. Part Five outlines some lessons learned at
the company and shares some cherishable memories of McKinsey.

The McKinsey Way Of Thinking About Business Problems:

In this part of the book, the author draws the light on how McKinsey builds the solution,
develop an approach to solve the business problem and number of rules like 80/20 that
McKinsey-its have found useful while trying to solve the problem.
The McKinsey solutions are fact-based, rigidly structured and hypothesis-driven.

Facts are friendly you can build your strong argument over facts, and it increases the credibility
of your solution. Your list to the solution to any problem should be cross-checked as it should
be MECE (Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive). It will make your solution confusion
free and more coherent. The aim of McKinsey-it is to solve the problem at the first meeting
through the initial hypothesis. They define the initial hypothesis and then go about to prove it
right or wrong. They generate the initial hypothesis by breaking down the problem into key
drivers and making an actionable recommendation about each key drivers. In the end, they test
the initial hypothesis by answering numerous questions.

The McKinsey way to develop an approach to solve a business problem is to identify the
problem and use a standard framework to solve the problem.
Try to dig in and find out the actual problem that will solve the current problem don’t just
believe what the client thinks is the problem. Use the standard framework process to get the
initial start to solve and state your solution though there are many similarities between business
problems, the solution to the problem depends upon the client. Your solution or

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recommendation should fit the client and it should be like the client can follow or implement
according to its resources and capability. Sometimes solution comes to you when you have all
fact-based analysis from your side.

The number of rules followed by McKinsey like the 80/20 rule is one of the greatest truth of
management consulting.

The 80/20 rule has always worked at McKinsey and proves impressive by its power as a
problem-solving rule of thumb. The other rules that the author speaks about are:
Don’t Boil The Ocean: Encouraging to work smarter and not harder.
Find The Key Drivers: Focus on important factors that affect business.
The Elevator Test: Pitch your solution clearly and precisely in 30 secs.
Hit Singles: Don’t try to do everything. Set realistic and attainable goals.
Look at Big Picture: Stop and reflect on your actions before moving forward.

The McKinsey Way Of Working To Solve Business Problems:

In this part, the author talks about McKinsey’s approach to selling a study and then goes on to
describe the basics of assembling a team, managing hierarchy, conducting research, interviews,
and brainstorming.

The McKinsey way describes that the right way to sell your products is not by bulldozing
products to customers but by being there at the right time and ensuring customers know who
you are. It suggests being careful about what you promise. Don’t set unattainable goals. Set
targets that you can achieve and your client will be satisfied.

At McKinsey, you never work alone. Everything happens in teams because they believe teams
are the best way to solve the problems that the client’s face. For effective problem solving you
need to get the right mix of people having varied skill sets in your team. The team leaders
should promote team bonding, maintain the team’s morale and keep them constantly involved
in the work.

When it comes to managing hierarchy, McKinsey has a split personality. On the one hand, it
claims that it has no hierarchy, on the other hand, the McKinsey-it tells that there are at least 2
hierarchies within the firm. One of the important strategies to succeed in the firm is to make
your boss look good by doing your job to best of your ability and making sure that the
information keeps on flowing to him/her. In the end, it is your boss who would make you look
good.

Research is the key driver to problem-solving process at McKinsey. Most of the new associates
exercise skills of gathering, filtering and analyzing the data. The author suggests that whenever
you are assigned a problem, never try to reinvent the wheel, rather take help as someone
somewhere in the firm has already worked on a similar problem. He gives some of the specific

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research tips like to start with the annual reports of companies, look for outliers and choose
best practices among them.

Interviewing is the most important part of McKinsey’s problem-solving process. It is the way
McKinsey-its fill the gap between their knowledge base and the experience of their clients. The
author takes you through the interviewing process at McKinsey. It begins with preparing and
writing an interview guide so that you are through what you are going to ask the interviewee.
He suggests 7 tips for a successful interviewing that are:

- Having the interviewee’s boss to set up the meeting to make interviewee more serious.
- Interviewing in pairs by switching roles between question poser and note taker.
- Listen carefully and don’t lead. Try to pull out exhaustive answers.
- Paraphrase as it gives a chance to the interviewee to correct you or add information.
- Be sensitive to interviewee’s feelings and use an indirect approach.
- Don’t ask for too much information and stick to only 2/3 important questions.
- Ask last questions as the probability of getting an answer is very high.

Remember to express your gratitude by writing a thank you note after the interview as it could
definitely pay you back in unexpected ways.
The sine qua non of strategic consulting is Brainstorming. For a brainstorming session,
everybody is accepted at equal par irrespective of the hierarchy in the session, as it is believed
that a good idea can come from anybody from Senior to Junior Level. Also, everybody is
advised to come up with some research on the problem so that a fact sheet is ready before the
session start and can directly jump to discuss ideas. In the brainstorming session, there is
freedom to express your ideas as no idea is considered as a bad idea and no question is a dumb
question. For the session, you better come up with a clean state of mind without any
preconceptions and solution to the problem. Always take note of the ideas discussed in the
meeting.

The McKinsey Way Of Selling Solutions:

In this part, the author focusses on how to get your clients to buy into your solutions i.e. the
ways adopted by McKinsey to sell/market its solutions. Ethan Rasiel gives advice on how to
make effective presentations, manage internal communications, and work with clients to get
buy-in from all necessary parts of the organization.
To make your idea sell you need a presentation which is structured and follow a plan in which
you can guide the audience with your pace. Also, avoid minute corrections as there will be very
less returns to it in comparison to the efforts you put in. In order to avoid last minute surprises,
it’s always advisable to a preview with client-side Sr. Managers so that your solution doesn’t
look unfeasible.
Your team members should be very well communicated about the proceedings of the work
and how their work is contributing to it to make them motivated. Your message should contain
these three features:
1. Brevity 2. Thoroughness 3. Structure.

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You should always maintain the confidentiality of your project and don’t disclose any
information about your client and your work knowing or unknowingly as it might hurt you in
big time. Avoid working in public places and arrange your papers so that they won’t end up
leaking some important decision.
Managing Clients is of utmost importance at McKinsey because clients are the building blocks
of Mckinsey. While working with clients always remember to align their goals with yours and
keep them on your side. Show them your little success so that they will get more involved in
the process. In order to create a lasting impact on your client, you must reach out to all levels
of the organization. Always treat your clients with respect and they will respond positively
most of the time. Appoint someone to take responsibility for getting the job done through
rigorous efforts and take feedback on a regular basis.

Surviving At McKinsey:
Consultants frequently travel, work for long hours and are always under pressure to deliver
their job in time. So in this section, the author gives an insight on how to cope with high-
pressure situations in any organization and how to survive at McKinsey. In addition, the author
sheds light on McKinsey’s recruiting process and also shares few tips for those who like to join
the firm by themselves.
First of all, you should find a mentor at McKinsey from whom you can take guidance and
advice and make your journey smooth. Secondly make travel your adventure in order to lighten
your load. Always carry 3 things, i.e. Clothing, Tools and personal care items wherever you
go. Thirdly, treat your secretary exceptionally well, respect her and keep her updated about
your travel plan so that she can update the client or your team members whenever required.
Lastly, during recruitments, McKinsey-its always look for analytical thinkers, people who
could dig deeper into the solution by breaking the problem into small components. Therefore
they conduct case-based interviews to look for business judgments in candidates.

Life After McKinsey:

In this last section of the book, authors share some memories of alumni who have learned some
valuable lessons during their tenure at McKinsey.

Thus in “The McKinsey Way,” author Ethan Rasiel puts you through the boot camp so that
you can be your own “consultant,” determining solid solutions to tough business problems.
Whether you are a business owner or manager tackling tough strategic situations or trying to
improve efficiency and effectiveness, “The McKinsey Way” provides a distinct and enthralling
guide to succeed in a business that defines management thinking today as practiced by the firm.

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 ABOUT McKINSEY & Co. (Reader’s Analysis)
Organization Structure of McKinsey
 The McKinsey & Company follows a Divisional Structure/De-centralized
Structure whereby different offices operate similarly but independently. McKinsey
adheres to “One Firm” Principle wherein each office is expected to put overall
organization’s best interest before the various offices
 The firm is highly flexible and adaptable to change according to the needs of the
external environment. There is an extensive flow of information from top to bottom,
and even the person at the lowest level knows everything about the ongoing project
which boosts the team's efficiency and morale. This is achieved through excellent co-
ordination within their functional departments.
 When it comes to hierarchy, the company has a flat hierarchy, and each member is
assigned a mentor who provides excellent guidance and advice during all
engagements. There also exists an unofficial hierarchy based on experience and
credentials wherein certain stellar people get to pick and choose their assignments and
best mentors and career makers. However, there is one drawback that if any of the
members performed poorly even in one engagement, then that member is not chosen
by the mentors in their teams. So at McKinsey, you have to be constantly on your toes
to perform in excellent ways.
 McKinsey and company follow an Adhocracy configuration, a structure of
interacting project teams. It is a tremendously fluid structure where co-ordination is
achieved through informal communication and interaction of competent experts. It
follows operating adhocracy and carries out innovative projects directly on behalf of
its clients. The firm aligns its goals to its client's goals and treats each client problem
as a unique one to be solved in a creative fashion.

Organizational Culture at McKinsey:

When measured on the scale of sociability and solidarity, McKinsey is a mercenary
organization with a low level of sociability and high level of solidarity. This form of culture
suits them for achieving a competitive edge over others. Being a management consulting firm,
they have a clear-cut business strategy, and with diverse kind of clientele, it is necessary to
have a high level of solidarity to succeed.
At McKinsey different teams are formed for different clients by joining employees of various
departments with the varied skill set. These teams are for short term until the client’s work is
over. After the completion of work the team is dissolved and a new team is made for a new
client. In this changing scenario employees don’t get time to gel well with each other, rather
they focus on the shared objective to reach to the end successfully. So employees have to
respond quickly and cohesively to finish the work of the client before the deadline. For doing
this, they need to decide on the priorities quickly to start working on the go.
To develop this kind of efficient behaviour among employees, McKinsey had developed a
culture where decisions of higher management are final and accepted unquestionably by lower

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level employees. As McKinsey follows meritocracy, only those people reach higher
management who have shown absolute competence in work and earned the respect of fellow
employees. So it is easy to enforce the decisions at McKinsey because nobody doubts the
capability of people seating at a higher level of the hierarchy.
As McKinsey as an organization is low on sociability, poor performance is hardly tolerated.
The employees who are not contributing to the company efficiently are fired or given clear cut
instructions on how to improve. This is necessary for a competitive company like McKinsey
where work is diverse and dynamic in nature, which demands absolute resolve from employees
to deliver.

Core Job Characteristics at McKinsey:

Employees at McKinsey should have many skills to become successful in finishing the work
of the client. As clients are diverse, the works are different each time which is possible if the
employees have the varied skill set. Jobs at McKinsey provide employees with a platform
where they need to learn different skills and exercise them to complete tasks. So workers at
McKinsey get a sense of meaningfulness from their jobs due to the presence of a high degree
of skill variety.
As employees at McKinsey work in a team every time they get a new client, they are engaged
from beginning to the end of the work. This process provides them with the opportunity to
witness the end results of their work and to get a sense of achievement. So the employees can
identify with their task better and perform efficiently.
McKinsey provides management consulting to its customers, where the true success of the
work is not visible quickly. The effect of the work kicks in later, and the results are reflected
long after the consulting process is over. So the employees cannot see the actual outcome of
their work, because they are busy in another project by the time end result is visible. So task
significance is low in McKinsey jobs.
There is no structured hierarchy at McKinsey, but only some set of a chain of commands that
are followed. For example, the director and to some extent partners make decisions for the
direction of the firm and subordinates follow them. Also, there is an unofficial form of the
hierarchy at McKinsey because some people have a better experience and are better at problem-
solving. Although employees enjoy some level of independence at the tactical level but do not
have autonomy strategically So, jobs at McKinsey are moderately autonomous.
As McKinsey is a result driven organization, employees are closely scrutinized. They get clear
and detailed feedback on the effectiveness of their work. It helps them to get actionable data to
improve the productivity of their work when required. So jobs at McKinsey are designed in
such a way that employees get feedback in a timely and efficient manner.

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 Learning and Takeaways
Learn to say “I don’t Know.” when you don’t know something learn to say you don’t know
about it rather than bluffing as it will be less costly in the end. As a Professional in Mckinsey,
you are expected to show Honesty and Integrity in your character. That will make you more
believable in future for your clients and your team members at Mckinsey.

You should always Maintain the Morale of your Team irrespective whatever the blows and
Strikes your team is taking because of Client Politics. You Should maintain a Steady course so
that your team members will stay positive and make them informed about what they are doing
and why they are doing. Treat all your teammates with respect and try to find out whether
everybody is happy in the team
Don’t try to do things over just because there is some space of improvement it is always better
to take good rest at night before presentation than the doing final corrections and editing in
your presentation slides and Paper folders as there is the law of Diminishing marginal return
to efforts put in the end. You will put lots of time and energy in the last minute's changes than
actually required to do so.

Working for the Mckinsey is a challenging task which required sheer commitment from the
employee, also, there sometimes you have to work more than 100 hours for a week to get the
solution done for your client problem at the dying moment of the deadline. But in all this, you
have to maintain a balance between your personal and work life and for that you have to decide
some certain rules like take a day off in a week for your friends and Family and don’t take
work to your home.

In the End, the most important learning from this Book is that you should always focus on the
things you can do like making a plan and structure to solve a problem on the basis of facts
available to you without compromising your work ethics and Professional Integrity. If you
follow this rule at your work, you can learn and grow in your career, and ultimately you will
attain your Business Goals.