Page 125 - The McKinsey Mind

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100 The McKinsey Mind

story. When you have to put your facts into a coherent story for
your client, you have the same goal as an author writing her own
version of the story of Arthur: making your audience understand
your message. What separates you from a writer of fiction or a
movie director is your responsibility to be intellectually honest.
The author can depict her Arthur however she wants to make her
point or press her agenda. As a result, audiences have seen Arthur
as a blood-soaked conqueror (Excalibur), a noble but doomed
king (Le Morte d’Arthur), an innocent boy (The Sword in the
Stone), and a very silly man who says “Ni” to old ladies (Monty
Python and the Holy Grail). You, as a consultant or employee,
don’t have that freedom:* you have to produce recommendations
that will add the most value to your client.
Remember that the goal of the problem-solving process—your
goal—is not simply to come up with a brilliant idea. If you ask a
McKinsey consultant what it is that the Firm does, one of the most
common answers you will receive is, “We help our clients make
change happen.” They won’t say, “We come up with brilliant ideas
for our clients.” They realize that the best idea or the cleverest
strategy is worth precisely nothing if the client doesn’t buy into it
and implement it. To secure that buy-in, you have to put together
a compelling narrative, and that entails leaving out facts that don’t
advance your story.
Please note, this does not mean you should ignore evidence
that contradicts your hypothesis. Quite the contrary; by this time,
you should already have adjusted your hypothesis to the facts. It
does mean that you should not throw every fact that you have into
your story just because you can. If you do so, you will lose your
audience in irrelevant detail, and this will get in the way of telling
your story.

*Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped people from producing business plans straight out of
Monty Python.