Since our formation in 1926, McKinsey
has operated as a single global partnership united by a strong set of values, and the drive to deliver positive, enduring change.
2021
Shining a light
McKinsey forms the Global Lighthouse Network initiative
in partnership with the World Economic Forum. This growing community of organizations is setting the trends of the future with their use of digital and analytics tools across the value chain to drive growth and productivity, improve resilience,
and deliver environmental sustainability.
Committing to a single firm
With the opening of a San Francisco office (the third, after Chicago and New York), the notion of building
a loose network of geographic offices is permanently rejected in favor of a commitment to a single firm
with a shared mission and shared resources.
Chief of staff
We serve the incoming Eisenhower administration by recommending the creation of the post of White House Chief of Staff, a role which is still in use today.
2020
1952
1954
Toward social impact
With fewer than 100 consultants, McKinsey’s partners vote to undertake pro bono work for the Red Cross and other not for profits, establishing a firm-wide commitment to civil society that will continue throughout the firm’s history.
Throughout our history we have worked with clients across the private, public, and social sectors to help solve their most complex problems, from business resilience and adapting to a digital world, to social justice and climate change.
Today, we continue to combine bold strategies and transformative technologies to support organizations to innovate more sustainably, achieve lasting gains in performance, and build workforces that will thrive for this generation and the next.
History
firm
of our
Delterra
After scaling its operations and reach over three years as
an independent not for profit founded by McKinsey in 2018, Rethinking Recycling spins out to become the leading initiative of Delterra, a new environmental not for profit.
Cloud transformation
McKinsey acquires Candid Partners, a leader in cloud consulting.
Sustainability leadership
After 14 years of serving clients on sustainability and resource productivity, we invest further to launch McKinsey Sustainability, a client-service platform with the goal of helping all industry sectors transform to get to net zero emissions by 2050,
and to cut carbon emissions by half by 2030.
AI for the win
A McKinsey-built AI bot helps Emirates Team New Zealand successfully defend their Americas Cup title.
McKinsey acquires Material Economics, experts in sustainability and “circularity.”
Digital procurement
McKinsey acquires Orpheus, a recognized innovator in digital procurement.
COVID-19 changes everything
Around the world, McKinsey quickly shifts to remote and hybrid working and focuses on supporting our people, our clients, and our communities through the pandemic.
Many colleagues with healthcare experience return to the front lines to help in the fight against the coronavirus, and
the firm’s vaccine and immunology experts support clients involved in the global effort to develop, distribute, and provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
McKinsey serves as a lead partner of the Mission Possible Partnership, a coalition addressing one of the toughest challenges in climate change: decarbonizing seven
of the world’s hardest-to-abate sectors by 2050.
McKinsey acquires Vivid Economics and Planetrics to help clients navigate climate change.
Investing in communities
McKinsey commits to providing $2 billion in cash and in-kind support toward social-responsibility efforts by 2030.
A public commitment to anti-racism and social justice
McKinsey releases 10 actions focused on advancing racial equity within our firm, with our clients, and in our wider communities. Two key actions included launching the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility, a think tank dedicated to advancing racial equity and inclusive growth
to safeguard the lives of Black people around the world,
and creating the Black Leadership Academy, a dedicated McKinsey academy virtual leadership program available
at no cost to our clients.
2019
Serving all stakeholders
McKinsey is one of 181 companies in the United States to sign the Business Roundtable’s Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, committing itself to serving the interests of all stakeholders, including communities and the environment.
2018
New solutions to societal issues
McKinsey founds Rethinking Recycling, an initiative
to address the crisis caused by 3.5 million tons of waste generated each day around the world. Rethinking Recycling helps communities rapidly increase the amount of recycled material and put it back into productive use.
We created over 150 pieces of original content in two years that generated 2M+ site visits and made 50M+ social media impressions
Acting responsibly
McKinsey begins participating in the UN Global Compact, supporting and respecting its ten principles on human rights, environment, labor, and anti-corruption, reflecting these principles throughout our policies and practices.
2017
Facilitating change
McKinsey acquires Aberkyn, experts in leadership development and cultural transformation.
Generation
McKinsey founds Generation, a not for profit focused on tackling global youth unemployment in 2014. By the end of 2017, it trained and graduated more than 16,000 students across five countries, placing 82 percent of them in jobs.
We created over 150 pieces of original content in two years that generated 2M+ site visits and made 50M+ social media impressions
Growing by design
With the acquisition of Lunar in late 2015, followed by
Veryday and Carbon12 in 2016, McKinsey Design grows
to 350 colleagues across 14 global studios. Our designers and experts work with clients to create groundbreaking products, services, and experiences.
2016
Lean In
Along with LeanIn.Org, McKinsey launches the annual Women in the Workplace study—the largest study on the state of women in corporate America—to give companies insights and tools to advance gender diversity in the workplace.
Launch of McKinsey Digital
Bringing together 2,100 experts from across our global firm—including more than 800 developers, designers,
IT architects, data engineers, agile coaches, and advanced-analytics experts in our Digital Labs (now Build)—the launch of McKinsey Digital is a key moment in the decades-long mission to help our clients create real value with digital technology.
2015
Going big on AI
McKinsey brings cutting-edge AI to the firm by acquiring QuantumBlack, a company pioneering the use of big data and advanced analytics to improve organizational performance.
Eradicating malaria
McKinsey joins with malaria experts to help plan how to eradicate the disease by 2040. The global impact of the Malaria No More initiative will be huge: between now and then, 11 million lives can be saved, and roughly $2 trillion can be added to the world’s economy.
Expanding across Africa
McKinsey opens an office in Nairobi, Kenya, its seventh in Africa, serving clients across public and private sectors. With
a focus on local hiring and an outreach to African universities, McKinsey works to develop the next generation of leaders.
We created over 150 pieces of original content in two years that generated 2M+ site visits and made 50M+ social media impressions
2014
“Consulting on the cusp of disruption”
In a Harvard Business Review article, Professor Clayton Christensen concludes that a thriving McKinsey is consciously “disrupting itself” by innovating to meet the rapidly evolving needs of clients.
We created over 150 pieces of original content in two years that generated 2M+ site visits and made 50M+ social media impressions
2013
Model factories
The 11th model factory is added to the McKinsey Operations Practice suite of assets. From the Lean Experience factory outside Venice, Italy to the Green Campus in Singapore, which is dedicated to energy efficiency, these workplaces offer client teams hands-on opportunities to experiment and learn.
2012
Scaling up analytics
With a problem-solving approach grounded in fact-based analysis, McKinsey has always had strong analytic capabilities. The creation of McKinsey Analytics builds on this foundation
to provide clients with deep support in designing, creating, interrogating, and maintaining big data models to inform critical business decisions. The team comprises more than 200 experts, including analysts, data scientists, and data architects.
2011
Tools and solutions
McKinsey Solutions is created as an umbrella for a growing portfolio of web-based tools that provide clients with new ways to access McKinsey’s knowledge and expertise.
Advising on climate change
McKinsey forms a special initiative on climate change and informs the climate-change debate by publishing the first global greenhouse-gas cost curve to rigorously compare the costs and abatement potential of hundreds of possible actions to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. This becomes part of a broader effort in which McKinsey publishes research and advises clients across a variety of sustainability and resource productivity topics.
2007
The third sector
McKinsey embraces the growing importance of not-for-profits, foundations, and other nongovernmental organizations by creating a practice dedicated to serving them.
2000
McKinsey knowledge center, India
Knowledge professionals at McKinsey provide consulting teams with rapid access to specialized expertise and business information. Today, the Client Capability Network comprises more than 3,500 analysts and experts who work alongside our consultant teams both remotely and at client sites.
We created over 150 pieces of original content in two years that generated 2M+ site visits and made 50M+ social media impressions
1999
A presence in China
McKinsey opens offices in Shanghai and Beijing, cultivating private-sector clients and developing businesses. McKinsey’s presence in China will grow over the following decade from just a handful of people to more than 300 consultants. An early client is a bottled-water company founded by four farmers; within a few years, it will be valued at $200 million.
An early client is a bottled-water company founded by four farmers; within a few years, it will be valued at $200 million.
1995
Living our values
On June 4, 1993, more than 50 offices around the world held its first Values Day, intended to “raise our consciousness, give us a forum for discussion, and in general remind us how essential and central to the firm our values are.”
1993
Our women’s network
At a time when only 2 out of 100 US senators are women, McKinsey establishes a global initiative aimed at creating career paths, support, and working environments to help women succeed. McKinsey Women will go on to become a thriving global network and powerful resource that provides formal and informal mentoring, training, and relationship-building opportunities.
1992
Think tank
The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) is established as
an independent think tank to improve understanding of fundamental economic issues facing organizations globally. By 2015, MGI’s research agenda covers competitiveness, financial markets, growth, innovation, labor markets, natural resources, productivity, technology, and urbanization.
1990
Early actions on climate
In preparation for the November 1989 Ministerial Conference on Atmospheric Pollution and Climatic Change, held in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, McKinsey takes on a major project directed at assessing the scope of and opportunity for resolving the greenhouse effect by assessing the financial consequences of taking action to combat global warming, and identifying possible international funding mechanisms.
1989
Bill Lewis, founding director of McKinsey Global Institute, is appointed to a committee of the United States National Academy of Sciences to develop strategies for adaptation to greenhouse warming.
A global organization
By the early 1980s, more than half of all McKinsey consultants carry non-US passports. Two years later, the majority of the firm’s partners—who jointly own and govern McKinsey—hail from outside the United States.
1984
1976
Asia
McKinsey opens in Tokyo, Japan—its first office in Asia. This is the starting point from which McKinsey will expand to serve clients across the region from offices in more than ten Asian countries.
We created over 150 pieces of original content in two years that generated 2M+ site visits and made 50M+ social media impressions
1971
Creation of the Universal Product Code
Working with the Uniform Grocery Product Code Council and with manufacturers and retailers of all sizes, McKinsey conceives of a system that assigns a unique code to every product sold in the United States—the “Universal Product Code,” or UPC.
1970
Tackling air pollution
The firm works with New York City on public-health issues, including reducing air pollution.
1967
Sharing knowledge
The McKinsey Quarterly launches as a vehicle for reprints of articles by McKinsey consultants and external thought leaders. Soon the Quarterly starts to publish original articles and gains an international reputation.
1964
First women MBAs join the firm
In 1963, eight women became the first female students enrolled in Harvard Business School’s prestigious MBA program. A year later, three of the women in that class—
Jane Glick, Jacqueline Browne, and Joan E. Griewank—join McKinsey as associates. “There were precious few companies willing to interview female MBAs,” recalled one of the three. “McKinsey was a notable standout.”
Crossing the Atlantic
Less than a year after the first generation of jet airliners dramatically reduces transatlantic travel time, McKinsey opens an office in London—its first outside the United States. Within ten years, the firm will have offices in eight countries on three continents.
“The banking game”
The “Bank Management Game,” an early computer simulation, is developed jointly by McKinsey and IBM, and field tested with banks. “The McKinsey work is directed primarily towards the problems of the organization of management to compete more effectively and to adapt more rapidly to new situations.”
1959
NASA
McKinsey helps design the original organization of NASA.
1958
Toward social impact
With fewer than 100 consultants, McKinsey’s partners vote to undertake pro bono work for the Red Cross and other not for profits, establishing a firm-wide commitment to civil society that will continue throughout the firm’s history.
1954
Chief of staff
We serve the incoming Eisenhower administration by recommending the creation of the post of White House chief of staff, a role which is still in use today.
1952
Committing to a single firm
With the opening of a San Francisco office—the third, after Chicago and New York—the notion of building a loose network of geographic offices is permanently rejected in favor of a commitment to a single firm
with a shared mission and shared resources.
1944
“An obligation to dissent”
Marvin Bower, who joined the firm in 1933 and later served as managing director, first articulates the consultant’s obligation to advocate for what they believe to be true. After helping establish this obligation as part of the firm’s core values, Bower will later express it clearly in his 1979 book, Perspective on McKinsey:
1936
“When discharged in a client situation, this responsibility [to dissent] is one of our most important controls of quality. When discharged within the firm—and it frequently is—it can strengthen our management substantially.”
Invention of management consulting
James O. McKinsey, a University of Chicago professor and expert on management accounting, establishes his eponymous consulting firm. He sets an enduring tone of independence and establishes a commitment to rigorous research and training.
1926
The firm launches the COVID-19 Response Center to offer leaders insights, tools, and resources to help safeguard lives and livelihoods through the pandemic.
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Photo courtesy of IBM Corporation
First female McKinsey associates
McKinsey Brussels office, early 1980s
The early MGI team
Clayton Christensen, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, speaks at a conference.
“Business of Software - Clay Christensen” by Betsy Weber is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Young Red Cross nurses, 1950s
British Red Cross; licensed under CC BY 2.0
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Colleagues attending a McKinsey Values Day
Firm colleagues attending a 1944 conference in San Francisco
Participants experiencing a virtual model factory using powerful 3-D
imaging technology
Colleagues attending a McKinsey Values Day
Going GLAM
A group of McKinsey colleagues create GLAM, our LGBTQ+ network, formally demonstrating our commitment to LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion.
We created over 150 pieces of original content in two years that generated 2M+ site visits and made 50M+ social media impressions
Beyond geography
Under managing director Ron Daniel, the firm adds individual practices that span geographic boundaries, and each practice focuses on a specific industry. The new industry-focused partners become the firm’s first true global experts.