"They have a pitch which they present to these students that if you join McKinsey, you can make an impact on the world," New York Times reporter Michael Forsythe told Fresh Air.
But the reality is often more complicated. In a new book, When McKinsey Comes to Town, Forsythe and fellow Times reporter Walt Bogdanich make the case that the company has a history of engaging in ethically questionable work — from helping companies boost tobacco and opioid sales to working with repressive authoritarian regimes, including Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Bogdanich says that McKinsey has a set of values that it posts on the walls of each office and insists its consultants adhere to. First and foremost is that the client's interest always comes first. But, he adds, "What does that mean when you have an opioid manufacturer who's pushing opioids in the middle of an epidemic?”
Forsythe notes that McKinsey was working with Purdue Pharma to boost sales of OxyContin as recently as 2013: "This is well after the dangers of OxyContin and the addictive power of OxyContin were widely known. ... And yet McKinsey drove right in." (In 2020, McKinsey issued an apology for its involvement with Purdue Pharma, stating: "We recognize that we did not adequately acknowledge the epidemic unfolding in our communities or the terrible impact of opioid misuse.")
Though McKinsey is tight lipped about its work, refusing even to disclose its client list, Bogdanich and Forsythe managed to get hundreds of internal documents and interview more than 100 current and former employees. In addition to Purdue Pharma, they learned that McKinsey started working with tobacco companies in 1956 and, more recently, with the e-cigarette company Juul. Meanwhile, the firm began consulting for the FDA's department that regulates vaping and nicotine.
"McKinsey's working for the companies and also the regulators that regulate them," Forsythe says. "I think most reasonable people would look at that and say, 'I think that's a problem.’" Interview:
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