A curiosity

Not having known that commercial partnerships went in for elections, this morning's FT prompted me to take a look at reference 1. With McKinsey being what might be called a cutting edge consultancy. It seems that competition to work for them is intense, perhaps comparable to the competitions to be a mandarin in Imperial China or to serve in the Foreign Office in Imperial Britain.

In substance a partnership, but structured as a company with the partners owning all the shares. So, according to Wikipedia at reference 3: 'McKinsey & Company was originally organized as a partnership before being legally restructured as a private corporation with shares owned by its partners in 1956. It mimics the structure of a partnership and employees are called "partners". The company has a flat hierarchy and each member is assigned a mentor. Since the 1960s, McKinsey's Managing Director has been elected by a vote of senior directors to serve up to three, three-year terms or until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 60. The firm is also managed by a series of committees that each has its own area of responsibility'.

In the news, because for the first time for a long time, the incumbent failed to get elected for a second term. Rather different from old leader going when he felt like it and the name of the new leader emerging from a smoke filled room. Presumably, people who want to get elected to important positions like this one have to work the electorate a bit. Do a bit of schmoozing. Take a few leaves out of the politicians' play book. Does the Electoral Reform Society of reference 4 get to play, as I believe they do in plenty of other elections?

Sadly, a quick peek at the McKinsey website at reference 2 failed to turn up anything better than the snap above. Apart from the facts that the leader is sometimes called the 'Global Managing Partner' and his official address is often his home office. Presumably a fairly fancy home. It would be interesting to know more.

What is the usual drill for partnerships? All the more modest, professional partnerships of accountants, dentists, doctors or lawyers?

References

Reference 1: McKinsey partners sacrifice leader in ‘ritual cleansing’: Sven Smit and Bob Sternfels compete to run the consultancy but the question of reform looms large - Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew Hill, FT - 2021. February 25 2021.

Reference 2: https://www.mckinsey.com/. McKinsey & Company.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company.

Reference 4: https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/.