Like McKinsey, But With Added Love.

Writing this feels a little uneasy.

I don’t know very much about McKinsey.

They are a T-Rex of management consultancies. They’re plugged into Boardrooms and Governments around the world. They employ ‘large brains’. Are big. And corporate. And a very successful machine. They’re not universally admired. Which might be fair. Or jealousy. I am not to know.

They published a report on ‘Bouncing Back’; Surviving and Thriving Post Covid.- a guide to righting the corporate ship, post crisis.

All sensible strategic assertions. Cut in some areas - mainly through efficiency - and invest in others, like digital. All suggestions that you or I might make and agree with, to varying degrees. And I like the title.

Reading it made me feel jealous. Certainly inferior.

I too share their insights and ideas. I would like to write something which is shared, applauded and celebrated as helpful and useful. Who wouldn’t? We all want to be helpful. And useful. That little guy hiding inside wants to be seen and heard and thanked. I know I do.

I agree with most of what they say. Might quibble on a few. Like marketing efficiency. I prefer effectiveness. But they have earned the platform and right to share their views over 50+ years of consistent, trusted delivery.

But what are they not saying?

Their advice lacks heart.

As does corporate advice. And transactions.

The work of work looks a lot like the people who run it. Ageing. White. Emotionally stunted.

Which is funny because even ageing white men, of which I am one, are a richer spectrum of colour and opportunity than might otherwise be seen. We are not a uniform of dull and grey. We hope, we laugh, we cry. We smile. We are fuelled by heart.

And when I say heart, I mean warmth, openness, connection.

Heart is lacking in our corporate transactions and interactions, in our positioning and advice. Which is funny because it’s part of us.

Connect With Heart

Maybe the single most important bounce back quality, preceding digital transformation or being close to customers or even quick revenue, which are necessary and critical, might be connecting with heart.

Heart to shape how we interact with, and support, the people who work with us and for us. Heart to inform how we connect with partners or suppliers. Heart to inform ambition. A heart shaped connection with clients and customers - not as targets but partners on a journey.

What if we infused our words, our communications, with heart? Might they be more easily received and understood? What if we set the orientation of our companies, the very work we do, in service of a warmth, trust and connection which heart-fulness talks to? Where might we go? How successful might we be?

This is not to ignore the very real circumstances leaders, managers, owners are peering into. A very urgent crisis. Markets disappearing. Customers falling off cliffs. Mass redundancies. Very real threat of extinction - corporate, environmental, ecological.

The specifics McKinsey talk to are real and helpful tools to respond.

But what might underpins our actions, our thinking and doing?

What are McKinsey not saying?

Do it with heart, with a warmth and connection. You will find it lends personal and organisational resilience. It will make you and your organisation stronger. And more secure. And when you feel more secure, you are more creative, adaptive and adaptable. This is true for you, your team and organisation at large.

This is what we need going forward. These are qualities to survive and thrive.

The invitation of the current crisis is to find a new language, a new operating model.

And maybe that operating model should be founded on Love.

There, I’ve said it.

What might our businesses, our interactions, our transactions, look like then?