Now a new book attempts to shed light on an extremely influential
but little understood organization, the consulting firm McKinsey
and Company. Nevada's Got an exclusive first look when Tiffany Glover
was around 18 years old, the negative Louisiana resident had her
first menthol cigarettes. Honestly, it made it easier to smoke.
It masks the taste the harshness of the smoke in my lungs. Now, 45
Glover looks back and recalls learning about mentors from the ubiquitous
ads she saw in black publications like Ebony and Jet magazines. Those
magazines were full of mentor cigarette ads, and the people in the
ads looked like they were having the time of their lives. Those images
were in stark contrast to what Glover saw in real life.
This is a picture of my mother.
When she was just a teenager. Her mother died from lung cancer at
the age of 48. After decades of smoking. She went from being a vibrant
teacher that was in the prime of her career to couldn't even get
out of bed. I just wish that earlier we could have known and been
honest about the dangers of smoking, because maybe that would have
prevented my mother.
AH from smoking. There is a definite significant health hazard associated
with cigarette smoking. It was way back in 1964 that the U. S surgeon
general first concluded in a report to Congress that cigarettes cause
cancer and other diseases, But it wasn't until decades later in 2006.
That cigarette companies were found guilty in federal court of misleading
the public about the dangers of smoking. And until very recently,
the tobacco industry still marketed its products with the help of
the consulting firm McKinsey. For all these years, they've been helping
all the major cigarette companies sell more cigarettes when 480,000
people are dying every year after smoking had been banished from
restaurants.
Spanish from offices and yet as recently as the last few years, and
in fact, until last year, Mackenzie was working for these companies
in their new book When McKinsey comes to Town, New York Times investigative
reporters Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsyth take a rare look into
the cloister company that for 96 years has advised the world's most
profitable firms and powerful governments.
Making recommendations on things like maintenance schedules, salaries,
marketing regulations and more. And yet, for the most part, has remained
out of the public view. We stopped by McKinsey's headquarters at
three World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, powerful company and
yet you'd never know they were here. There's not a single Mackenzie
sign anywhere. Why is that?
They don't want anyone to know anything about him. They want everything
done in secret, and if that includes where they work.
Then so be it. Cultural reason of corporate cultural reason. They're
always
But the client first is their their mantra, and they
Take a step back. They work behind the scenes.
They let the client take credit when things go well, and they let
the client take credit when things go badly as well
Years now, Forsyth and Bogdanich have reported on McKinsey's work
behind the scenes examining its contract with immigration enforcement
during President Trump's family separation policy, its work for the
oil and gas industries even as it pledged to address climate change.
It's guidance to adversarial governments in Saudi Arabia and Ukraine
and to state owned firms in Russia and China. How it helped to juice
opioid sales to Purdue Pharmaceuticals and Johnson and Johnson at
the height of the addiction epidemic and the conflicts of interest
along the way, advising both U. S regulators like the FDA.
And the companies that regulated pattern did you see emerge over
those years that said to you? This all needs to be pulled together
in a book. What's the common thread of all the stories here? Secrecy?
Power on accountability and that draws investigative reporters, you
know?
Everywhere, and that's what interested us finding out about the reach
of the company around the world.
Ah, some of the US
Harm that they've done
to people around the world. Whether the United States or elsewhere
through their work was very compelling.
Over nearly a century of work. McKinsey, they argue, has been instrumental
in shaping parts of American society. From offshoring to securitize
debt to CEO compensation. One issue that is really troubling in this
country. I think everyone would agree is inequality, and Mackenzie
has contributed mightily to that.
Going back, for instance, the 1950 when one of their consultants
decided to look at how much executives were making versus how much
the workers were making, and he concluded that well, the workers
are catching up. So maybe the corporations ought to figure out ways
to pay the leaders more.
Every year they built on that more and more and more and executives
that the gap between what the leaders were making of corporations
and the workers kept growing and growing and growing over the years
overseas, they're reporting found some of McKinsey's work was at
odds with US government interests. In one instance, they were working
for a company called China Communications Construction Company, and
this is the company.
That did a lot of work building the islands in the South China Sea,
These artificial islands that China is militarizing and is making
the South China Sea into basically what could become a Chinese lake.
This is you know very much a problem for us foreign policy for the
U. S Navy. Yet At the same time, McKinsey has also been doing consulting
work.
For the Pentagon and for the U. S. Navy. The private firm, which
takes in an estimated $10 billion in revenue annually, has always
been a pipeline for prestige and power. Among its alumni are Transportation
Secretary Pete Buddha Judge Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, outgoing
Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg and many more at the highest levels
of private and public sectors in the U. S and globally as well as
their Children.
This door outdoor, incredibly rich experience
recruits heavily from the Ivy League, promising not only lucrative
careers, but the chance to make a difference. You will team with
exceptional clients to take on some of the world's toughest challenges.
This is very attractive, too idealistic young students, You know
if they don't want to go work for Goldman Sachs, if they don't want
to go work
Ah, for Morgan Stanley, where it's all about money. Here's a chance
for them to work for a very prestigious organization
that they can actually do some good in. That's that's the pitch at
least. Unfortunately, when a lot of these students get hired by McKinsey
and start working there, their disabused of that are often working
for things that have absolutely nothing to do.
You know, with these lofty goals. In a statement to the news hour,
McKinsey said the book fundamentally misrepresents their firm and
their work, adding quote. When we have made mistakes, we acknowledge
them and made changes, including ending all tobacco related work
last year and a new client selection policy they call more rigorous
than any other in our industry.
They point to their work, helping to scale up global ventilator production
and covid 19 vaccines, carbon izing, power generation and carbon
removal investments and supporting refugees and rebuilding in Ukraine.
And they note Among their past clients is the author's own employer.
The New York Times. Are there more times that they live up to their
values? That they don't? I mean, are the stories you're reporting
the exception or the rule?
They're the exception, but it's important exception and much the
same way that when the planes crash, That's an exception because
both most planes are safe. But it's behooves us to look into incidents
where people are harmed, and that's what we're doing. We're not saying
Mackenzie is responsible for all the evils in the world. No, they're
not. They do good things they work for nonprofit groups.
But that's the side that they want people to know about what we thought
it was our responsibility to bring more accountability. That's us
to this incredibly powerful, um, company.
How do you hold a firm like Mackenzie accountable, though? I mean
to be fair, they don't make cigarettes. They don't
Manufacture the opioids. How do you hold them accountable?
For us as journalists. The way we would hold them accountable is
to just tell the world what they do, and that's what we've been doing
for years now, and I think there is more awareness now about Mackenzie
and I hope this book allows more people to read about them. We want
people to know how this company affects their lives, how it affects
their Children.
How it affects them and how it affects their future and how it impacts
one of the worst problems in America today, which is inequality,
Um
Which is a problem that is really, um, eating at at the soul of this
country. You know, the Billy Joel song goes, You know we didn't start
the fire and McKinzie didn't start the fire. But they fan the flames
on so many issues that are so important to Americans today whether
it's offshoring securitization of assets that led to the global financial
crisis.
Managed care system and increasing healthcare costs. The opioid epidemic
tobacco If you understand Mackenzie and understand the story of McKinsey,
you do understand a little bit more. The story of America in the
recent 70 years or so.
Question. That is a story. Bogdanich and Forsyth will continue to