Sundar Pichai, James Gorman, and Sheryl Sandberg have all worked for McKinsey. Here's why the consultancy is a CEO factory.
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- Many Fortune 500 CEOs have previously worked at McKinsey.
- These include Google's Sundar Pichai and ex-Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg.
- The firm has become known as a CEO factory, but has sparked controversy in the past, too.
McKinsey is back in the headlines.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into the management consultancy, related to how it had previously advised opioid firms on sales strategies.
The "Big Three" firm has previously raised eyebrows over some of the work it's carried out, including advising Enron and helping Saudi Arabia's government diversify its economy.
But another, perhaps equally notable thing to know about the management consultancy is its history as an incubator for top leadership talent.
Fortune reported last year that 17 Fortune 500 CEOs were McKinsey alumni at the time, including Alphabet boss and man of the moment Sundar Pichai.
Liberty Media chairman John Malone, former Meta Platforms COO Sheryl Sandberg, ex-Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, and Louis Vuitton executive Delphine Arnault are among others who've worked there. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) also had stints at the firm.
Last year, leadership professor Graham Ward told The Financial News that McKinsey had earned its status as a CEO factory by instilling good analytical skills in employees and spending heavily on its learning and development programs.
"McKinsey partners have three things going for them — they are deeply analytical, have broad industry coverage by getting parachuted into customer service teams in a variety of situations and a massive internal investment in their learning and development," said Ward, who was also a former head of European equities at Goldman Sachs and now works at France's INSEAD business school.
In the post-pandemic era, employees might not be developing their skills in the same way.
Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that there isn't enough work for new recruits at top consulting firms anymore, leaving some employees earning $175,000 to sit around and do nothing.
Meanwhile, one former McKinsey associate recently told Business Insider that the firm had clearly overhired in recent years, with rising interest rates causing client demand to dry up.
McKinsey did not immediately respond to a BI request for comment.