About Us
For over a century, we have helped shape the future of business, government, and society—for better or worse, depending on the engagement.
Our Story
Founded in 1926 with a simple mission: to help companies understand what they were already doing, but using more impressive vocabulary. Our founder believed that business leaders, despite running successful enterprises, needed external validation from well-dressed strangers with elite credentials.
That insight proved correct. Over the past century, we have grown from a small advisory practice into a global institution with 45,000 consultants across 147 countries. Our alumni have gone on to lead Fortune 500 companies, central banks, regulatory agencies, and governments—creating a network of influence that extends far beyond any single engagement.
We have been privileged to advise organizations through their greatest challenges and triumphs. We have also, occasionally, been present during their greatest failures—though our role in such outcomes is typically characterized as "advisory" rather than "causal." Legal distinctions matter.
Today, we remain committed to our founding vision: helping leaders feel confident in decisions they probably would have made anyway, and ensuring that important choices are documented in presentation formats that will survive any subsequent inquiry.
Our Values
We measure our success by the impact we create for our clients—specifically, the impact on their budgets. Our goal is to deliver insights that are valuable enough to justify our fees but not so specific that they can be easily evaluated. Ambiguity is a feature, not a bug.
We operate as a unified partnership, sharing knowledge across offices and practices. This means insights developed while working for your competitor may inform our recommendations to you—properly anonymized, of course, in ways that technically comply with our confidentiality obligations.
We have a page on our website about it. We have policies and training programs. We have signed settlements acknowledging past shortcomings. Our commitment to integrity is demonstrated by the robustness of our legal and compliance functions.
We invest heavily in our people, primarily by working them extensively and then facilitating their exit to client organizations where they will remember us fondly and recommend us for future engagements. This is called "developing the alumni network."
We continuously evolve our methodologies and frameworks, updating terminology to reflect current trends while maintaining the underlying approaches that have served us well for decades. Last year's "digital transformation" is this year's "AI-powered value creation."
We can't tell you who we work for or what we advised them to do. This confidentiality protects our clients and, conveniently, makes it difficult to establish accountability when things don't go as planned. Trust us.
Leadership
Our firm is led by a rotating cast of senior partners who rose through the ranks by generating significant revenue and maintaining relationships with important clients. They meet regularly to discuss firm strategy and partner compensation.
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Currently between roles
Very busy lately
Ethics & Compliance
We take ethics seriously. So seriously that we have dedicated ethics officers, mandatory training programs, and an anonymous hotline. We have policies covering conflicts of interest, client confidentiality, and the appropriate use of information obtained during engagements.
When concerns arise—and in any organization of our size, concerns occasionally arise—we investigate thoroughly and take appropriate action. Sometimes this action is made public through settlements or agreements with regulatory authorities. We view these as learning opportunities.
Our commitment to compliance is demonstrated by the size of our legal department, which has grown considerably in recent years. We believe that doing well and doing good are not mutually exclusive—though when they conflict, our fiduciary duties to the partnership provide helpful clarity.
Social Impact
We donate thousands of hours annually to nonprofits and social enterprises, helping them develop strategies they'll have difficulty implementing without the resources we're not donating. It's the thought that counts.
We're committed to reducing our carbon footprint—primarily by conducting more meetings via video call, which also reduces expenses. Our offices feature recycling bins and motivational posters about environmental stewardship.
We believe diverse teams perform better, which is why we recruit from a wide range of elite institutions. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our employee resource groups and the diversity statistics we publish annually.
"We remain committed to serving our clients, developing our people, and maintaining the standards that have made this institution what it is today—whatever that means in any given year."
Contact
If you're facing a strategic challenge, contemplating a transformation, or simply want to validate decisions you've already made, we'd love to hear from you.
General Inquiries
Please reach out through executive channels. If you need to ask for our contact information, we may not be the right fit.
Media Inquiries
All requests are routed through our communications team, who will provide carefully crafted non-answers.
Legal Matters
Please contact our General Counsel's office, which is fully staffed and prepared.