Conde Nast gets the consultants in, and other McKinsey news

Uh-oh. Can there be any worse news for the employees of a company than to hear that "we're getting the consultants in." Well, yes. The news could arrive with the added caveat that they’re coming in to help the company "to rethink the way we do business in many instances and incorporate efficiencies in every step of our process." As an employee receiving that email, you just know that "incorporate efficiencies" means "pick up a large ax and start chopping."

You have to pity the poor folks at Condé Nast, then, who received exactly that message last Monday from CEO Chuck Todd. It could be worse, though; one of the firms the company will be working with as it seeks to "develop new perspectives on optimizing our approach to business, growing revenues, and enhancing our brand assets" is McKinsey. And they're noted for their caring approach to dealing with existing staff members, and seeing them as people and members of a team rather than just numbers on a balance sheet, right? Oh. Like I said: you have to pity the poor folks at Condé Nast.

In an unrelated piece of McKinsey news (except that it involves McKinsey and a magazine), the firm was profiled in New York Magazine recently. Despite being pretty well versed in all things McK, we were still surprised to learn a couple of things from the piece—mainly about famous alums of the firm. Among that group: President Obama's chief performance officer Nancy Killefer (although with a title like that we probably should have guessed), and Louisiana governor, Republican Presidential hopeful and, uh, bumblingly inept speech-maker Bobby Jindal.

--Posted by Phil Stott