Page 14 - The McKinsey Mind

00 (i-xviii) front matter 1/29/02 4:48 PM Page xiii

Introduction xiii

successfully implemented the Firm’s techniques and strategies in
their post-McKinsey organizations. Since leaving the Firm, they
have become CEOs, entrepreneurs, and senior decision makers in
businesses and governments around the world. If anyone could
show us what works outside McKinsey and what doesn’t, they
could—and did.
In this book, therefore, you will discover a problem-solving
and decision-making process based on McKinsey’s own, highly
successful methods but adapted to the “real world” based on—
and, we believe, strengthened by—the experiences of McKinsey
alumni in their post-McKinsey careers. You will also learn the
management techniques you will need to implement that process in
your own career and the presentation strategies that will allow you
to communicate your ideas throughout your organization.

ABOUT McKINSEY

In case you are unfamiliar with McKinsey & Company, let us offer
a few words about the organization that its members past and
present refer to as “the Firm.” Since its founding in 1923, McKin-
sey & Company has become the world’s most successful strategic
consulting firm. It currently has 84 offices (and counting) around
the world and employs some 7,000 professionals who hail from 89
countries. It may not be the largest strategy firm in the world—
some of the big accounting firms have larger practices—but it is
certainly the most prestigious. McKinsey consults to more than a
thousand clients, including 100 of the world’s 150 largest compa-
nies, as well as many state and federal agencies of the United States
and foreign governments. McKinsey is a brand name in interna-
tional business circles.