The McKinsey Edge: Success Principles from the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm (BUSINESS BOOKS) Hardcover – 16 Dec. 2016

This book is full of useful ideas which the reader can simply implement. Nothing is overly complex; rather the opposite , common sense and practicality stand out.

very good principles for anybody to follow to be successful at work/life presented in a simple way.

International consulting company McKinsey has a reputation for helping its clients know things and do things. This book sets out to share some of the principles of the firm that contribute to individual project success, culling best practices from the cream of McKinsey executives to offer up 47 actionable, powerful tips to help any business and employee.It sounded a brave boast at first, yet once you read through the book you will discover that it delivers a lot of potential. Of course, the hard part may be implementing any necessary changes, both individually and corporately, yet the effort can be a worthwhile investment.Whilst the book itself is written in a clear, engaging style that is a pleasure to read, it remains hard going because you will keep breaking off to think about the latest nugget of information and rapidly consider how to implement it into your work-stream. At the same time, the book also gives a great insight into how this massive consulting company works and interacts with its clients.Some of the advice is fairly common, general and obvious… yet far too many of us ignore it, such as failing to use our most productive time for creative efforts. Even when you see the advice in black and white, such as avoiding spending a lot of time first thing in the working day, when arguably you’d be at your most refreshed and creative, on routine, mundane issues such as responding to email. It is hard to break a bad habit, so it is the default to read and respond first to email, leaving longer, creative jobs to later in the day, when you are perhaps more tired, more distracted and not running at your best. Sadly there was no magic cure given to breaking these bad habits other than the instillation of discipline.In many ways, if you let it, this book provides a great “how you should do business”-series of guidelines. It can be a very helpful overview of best practice but rather soul destroying when you realise just how many things you could be doing better! Change is good and essential in this area, even if it won’t be an overnight process.This is more than just a book promising success. It is a fascinating collection of elements affecting so many areas of a business. It can be something you need to read several times to get the most out of it. A highly enjoyable, recommended read for everyone in business; surely no one is immune to possibly changing something for the better?

It is only my personal view, and it is not my intention to contradict with anyone else's.I purchased this book in the hope of learning new tips and tricks that can be used to excel in the corporate environment. It does offer some insights into the expected workings of a consultant, and will serve useful for fresh graduates with little to no industry experience. However, if you've been in the industry for some time, and understand the workings of an Inc. first hand, which already made you read corp-culture articles (e.g. on HBR, BI, etc.), although inconsistently but over a prolonged period, then this book serves only as a journal listing - what could be called as - the best-practices (that may push you up the corp ladder). There is nothing wrong in keeping a journal like that in your library. However, for me, it was a compilation of elements I already am aware from: using common-sense, free articles on the internet, and real-life experiences.All in all, it is an easy read. Using Blaise Pascal's philosophy on God, there is nothing wrong in having read this book - only if you don't lose too much time reading it. :)Good luck.